We all know that the present digital age is the age of social media. So, if you are not promoting your products on social media platforms, you are missing out.

Although, those who are operating their businesses via social media still are facing issues regarding online order management, catalogue management etc.

So, to solve the issue and help merchants in the proper management of their store, an Indian startup created a platform which enables merchants to set up their WhatsApp integrated shop and helps their sell products over WhatsApp.

Today’s startup story is about Bikayi, a platform for merchants where they can start their WhatsApp integrated online shop in 2 minutes.

Startup Story: Bikayi | Start Your WhatsApp Integrated Online Shop

Founding Team

This Hyderabad-based social e-commerce platform was founded by Sonakshi Nathani and Ashutosh Singla in 2019. Bikayi helps merchants to set up their WhatsApp integrated shop and helps them to sell products over WhatsApp.

Initially bootstrapped, Bikayi started with the personal savings of co-founders’ of around Rs 7 lakh. Recently, Bikayi has raised a seed funding of $2 million from international investors.

How Bikayi Started?

Met as classmates and have known each other since their college days, the founder duo worked in tech companies before starting Bikayi.

But when the sense of unfulfillment rise, the duo aspired to set up their own tech company. So, in October 2018, both quit their jobs. They had a few startup ideas but were unsure which one to proceed.

And on a visit to back home, Raipur, Sonakshi whose family also runs a grocery store, came to know about the issues they were facing in their grocery store.

Reminiscing the situation, Sonakshi says,

“These people (the store staff) started taking orders on WhatsApp. Regular customers were messaging the items they wanted, on chat. But a lot of time was going into figuring out the order and in checking the inventory.”

She told the issue to Ashutosh and thought of creating a platform for merchants with order management and catalogue management features.

So, on April 1, 2019, Bikayi was launched.

[Read: How Gurugram-based Startup Eshopbox Is Helping Brands Manage Their Ecommerce Operations]

USP Of Bikayi

Provides both free and premium subscription-based offerings, Bikayi helps small businesses to quickly and simply create their online stores and provides them with all the essential tools they need to manage their eCommerce on WhatsApp.

Can be used by all categories of business, the platform also provides live notification on order received and helps the merchants to manage them easily on mobile.

Present Situation Of Bikayi

Bikayi has grown from 25,000 merchants on its platform in July to 85,000 in September, which is more than 3x growth in just a matter of months.

For the same period, the startup has witnessed exponential growth.

As per the founder, since July, the platform has seen 25% month-on-month growth, and on the revenue front, Bikayi has been clocking around 125% month-on-month growth. Also, merchants on the platform are doing transactions worth over Rs 2 crore daily.

Available for download on the Google Play Store, the Bikayi app has been witnessing 60% organic downloads.

Future Plans

Aiming to onboard 1 million merchants on the platform by December, the startup plans on hiring new talent and strengthening its team.

Bikayi also has aggressive expansion plans and, by January 2021, the startup plans to take its platform into emerging international markets.

Read: How ‘cemX’ Is Digitally Transforming India’s Cement Procurement And Is “Cementing India’s Future”

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