Express IT Awards: For a hyper connected world
From sourcing and selling software CDs, to forming one of the biggest SMS-based searching companies in the country…
From sourcing and selling software CDs, to forming one of the biggest SMS-based searching companies in the country, and finally starting a hyperlocal messaging app service, Deepak Ravindran, 27, has come a long way
Ravindran is CEO and founder of Lookup, the Bengaluru-based hyperlocal messaging app service company that allows businesses to connect with local consumers. He opted to do engineering but dropped out to start his first venture Innoz. The company built SMSGyan, a SMS-based search engine which provided on-demand instant information on any mobile phone. Innoz was incubated by iAccelerator at IIM-Ahmedabad. As Ravindran says he got funded by 3 Fs—friends, fools and family—before he could raise series A round of funding from Freeman Murray, an angel investor.
“In a big breakthrough, Innoz ended up partnering with all telecom operators in India, and in over 7 countries outside India. But Innoz found it hard to survive with the evolving internet market in India. We were losing traction in early 2013. People started to use internet, and it killed our SMS business. As we were profitable, we bought back the full equity shares from early investors,” Ravindran adds. Innoz was later shut down, post which he started and shut another company in a span of 6 months.
But failures haven’t deterred this young entrepreneur. Ravindran goes by the adage “take chances when you are young, tell stories when you are old” and doesn’t hesitate to experiment with his entrepreneurship thoughts. “India has the largest ecosystem with 45 million small businesses. We wanted to bring them online and build the next big thing. That’s how Lookup was formed,” Ravindran says.
