Vu Premium UHD televisions comes with Opera store, which includes social networking, media, smart apps, YouTube, news information game center etc
The days of referring television (TV) as the idiot box are long gone. The TVs have become smart with OS and apps just like smartphones, and are as essential to every household in India and worldwide. Looking at the penchant for tech in the new generation, Devita Saraf thought of bringing the same with dash of luxury to Indian households with VU televisions.
“TV segment is huge in India and we thought of bringing innovation rather than bringing something basic to the market,” said Devita Saraf, CEO and Brand Ambassador of Vu Technologies, a California-based luxury television company which aims to bring luxury and technology in the TV viewing experience.
Devita Saraf, daughter of Rajkumar Saraf (Owner and Chairman of Zenith Computers), started her own entrepreneurial journey in 2006 with Vu Technologies. The startup was setup with an aim to change the way luxury viewing was perceived in the television segment. “I started the brand with an idea to enter into high-end electronic space, because most existing Indian brands are in the budget segment,” said Saraf. Aside from India, the brand is available in about 60 countries around the world.
Prior to stepping in the world of television, Devita joined her family business, Zenith at the age of 21 while she was still studying in California. Recalling her learnings from Zenith, Saraf told that the key learning was how to bring the two work cultures together, “I learnt to study Indian consumers at Zenith,” she said.
Saraf said that she observed that the youth across the countries have similar taste, unlike the previous generation, “the youth is more tech savvy across all countries,” she said. Keeping with its spirit of introducing luxury and innovation in the home entertainment systems, Vu announced the launch of India’s first TV with built-in Mac Mountain Lion X Operating System. Powered by the futuristic technologies of Apple, the Vu SuperMac TV is the first advanced computer-television integration. This TV can be used as a replacement to a Mac PC or as an additional Mac device.
“The generation these days likes to watch smart content like web series, Youtube, Netflix amongst others on TV and content is going to be the next big thing in the entertainment segment,” said Saraf.
The luxury TV company has recently launched its new luxury range of televisions, Premium UHD series and the Curve TV, priced between Rs 100,000 to Rs. Rs 300,000, which would be available exclusively on its online partner Flipkart, besides VU stores. The premium 4K UHD TV comes packed with Pixelight HDR Technology, a quad core processor, a dedicated Netflix button on the remote.
The Curve UHD range runs on 5.1 android platform with quad -core CPU processor for multitasking. The newly launched 2016 range of Vu Premium UHD televisions comes with Opera store, which includes social networking, media, smart apps, YouTube, news information game center etc. In terms of luxury other than TV sets, Vu owner’s club is an exclusive tech concierge service for customers, such as WhatsApp & VU Support App customer support.
The company is also reaping revenues from corporate segment in India to provide corporate displays for video and teleconferencing, and have clients including The Oberoi Group, The Taj Group, State Bank of India, Audi, Microsoft, Vero Moda, the Indian Navy, Maharashtra Police and Doordarshan, amongst others. The company is growing at the rate of 300% year-on-year. “We have grown to Rs 275 crore this fiscal from Rs 96 crore and this fiscal (2016-17) we are about to close at Rs 550 crore,” told Saraf. Vu is now aiming for Rs 600 crore turnover in fiscal year 2016-17. Saraf also told that Vu TVs are the largest online selling TVs in India, and has been leading the Premium TV segment after Sony, Samsung and LG. The company has 20 branded stores in leading metros, and is planning to expand to 35 outlets by the end of this year.
