Wi-Fi on a sharing platform
i2e1 provides offline business units customer analytics, writes Nirmalya Behera
i2e1 provides offline business units customer analytics. NIRMALYA BEHERA writes
Despite serious efforts by the government to make the internet available to everyone at a low cost, a significant gap exists in Wi-Fi proliferation. Advertisement-based or telecom company-backed Wi-Fi models have been attempted but no sustainable model has evolved. This is where the Delhi-based i2e1 (Information to Every One), a Wi-Fi analytics start-up, fits in. Founded in 2015, it has set itself a target of making ubiquitous, low-cost internet a reality for the Indian masses.
Recently, thecompanyraised$3 million in Series-A funding led by impact investment firm O mi dy ar Network and Aux a no Business Ventures. Its existing investors also participated in the round.
i2e 1 had also raised $500,000 in December 2015 from grow X ,3 one 4 capital and a few angel investors. Incubated at the Indian Institute of Technology( I IT) Delhi, i2e1w as founded by a team of six from AmericanExpress, Microsoft, Delland Adobe .“Given the steep growth in smartphone sales and data consumption, the government’ s push towards Digital India, and favour able regulatory changes, i2e1h as the potential to become the de facto gateway to the internet for millions, empowering offline retailers with rich user insights and smarter decision-making. Thei2e1teamh as demonstrated strong execution prowess to scale up rapidly and assume the market leader’ s position ,” says SiddharthN au ti y al, investment partner at OmidyarNetwork.
i2e 1 says that according to Tr ai estimates, till 2016 there were only 30,000 hot spots in the country against the need of more than 1 million.
Productconcept
i2e1h as developed a hot spot management layer that offers retailers and venue-owners the ability to share a portion of their bandwidth that usually r em ainsunutil is ed with their customers. It helps bridge the access and afford ability gap for users while providing its clients increased customer engagement, insightsanddata-driven decision-making a kin to Google Analytics .“While there is an intelligent platform like Google for the online space, which is used by almost every internet company, there is no single unified platform like this for offline businesses ,” says Sat ya mD armor a, a co-founder.
i2e1’ s insights help retail companies understand industry trends, brands understand consumer behaviour and non banking financial companies under write and manage small merchant loans. The start-up also provides real estate companies real-time traffic insights and research agencies multiple use cases.
While users enjoy free Wi-Fi, i2e1’s machine learning algorithm collects business insights for merchants. i2e1 claims there is no other Indian company in this space yet. “i2e1’s technology transforms a regular router into a Wi-Fi hotspot that can be managed remotely from anywhere in the world. This makes it the most affordable and most customisable Wi-Fi platform. We have the capability to convert any place into a manageable Wi-Fi hotspot in less than two minutes,” says the founder.
Airtel, Puma, Ola Shuttle, Redbusand Nest away are some of i2e1’sclients.
Opportunities
India’sbroadband penetrationof 7percent is well below the global average of 46 percent. A businessmodel anchored in analytics canopenupthe potentialinthe $650-billionIndian offline retail market. Offline retail is much larger than online in even developed countries such as the US .“This is the most affordable way to pro vi dew i-f ito consumers. WeprovideWi-Fiinpaan shops, freeofcost, byeffectively mo ne ti sing our analytics engine? Thousands of these people are first-time Internet users ,” D armor a explains .“Our innovation has made even better results possible with machines that cost less than ~1,000,” headds.
Revenue
i2e 1 earn sits revenue from sales of hot spot machines and services that include aC RM module and analytics. It charges~6,000-7,000annuallyforCRM and ~15,000 for analytics from small merchants having one outlet. The charges are customised for large chains.
In2016-17, thestart-upclosedtheyear with $750,000 in revenues and it aims to close the current year with $1.5 million.
Roadahead
i2e 1 is present in more than 4,000 locations, managingfreeWi-Fi. Ithas a large presence in Delhi, Mumbai and Bengaluru. We are now present in more than 60 cities and countries like Somalia, DubaiandBhutan,” saystheco-founder.
It aims to create 25,000 hot spots directly and another 100,000 through its partnersinnext18-24months.