Kolkata, the capital of West Bengal, is much more than its delicacies and vibrant culture—it’s the financial and commercial hub of the eastern and northeastern parts of India. Most of us aren’t aware of the large number of startups based out of Kolkata. In fact, it’s an entrepreneurial hub bustling with activity. Many successful ventures had their beginnings in the ‘City of Joy. As a result, it’s our duty at Business Outreach to cover some of the best startups in Kolkata and shower them with the spotlight they deserve.
Top Startups in Kolkata
1. WOW MOMO!
It was founded back in 2008 as a fast-food retailing chain and has witnessed major growth ever since. They came up with their first independent outlet in 2010 at Sector V in Salt Lake, Kolkata. As the name signifies, Wow! Momo is designed as a food manufacturing and delivery chain that specializes in the world-known Nepali/Tibetan specialty, momos, in their own patent style. Two classmates Sagar Daryani and Binod Homagai hailing from St. Xaviers College, Kolkata decided to take a plunge and give consumers a different and unique experience in the fast food industry. They have managed to run over 300 outlets across the country in 17 cities.
Wow Momo Foods in 2021 emerged as the most valued homegrown QSR brand in India with a valuation of ₹1,225 crores.
2. SleepyCat
SleepyCat was founded in March 2017. It is India’s first ‘Mattress in a box brand’. Special technology is used to make it compact enough, packed, and sent for shipping. The USP of SleepyCat’s box mattresses is that these mattresses are compressed using automated compression technology.
“Sleep should come easy. At SleepyCat, our mission is simple. To provide you with innovative, luxurious sleep solutions that add to your everyday comfort.
Everything we make, I love to use. The goal is to create sleep spaces that we love coming home to, as much as we look forward to stepping out. ” said Kabir Siddiq, CEO & Founder SleepyCat. It had raised $3.8 million in funding in August 2021.
3. Sweethandi
Very few can say no to Sweets, especially when they are in Kolkata. This startup in Kolkata is an e-commerce setup that sells Bengali sweets across the country. Kolkata is known for its sweets, therefore Abhirup Banerjee decided to make something big out of it. Established in 2015, Banerjee said it has a long way to go. It allows customers to place orders online. Takes bulk orders for events. Users can request orders from specific sweet shops, which will be delivered based on availability. It is located in Ballygunge. ‘Ektu Mishti Hoye Jaak!‘ is their tagline, which is rather intriguing. Kolkata was already well-known for its sweets, but this forum has only increased its appeal.
4. Tripmamu.com
Holidays are worth remembering only if they are joyous, memorable, and exciting. Tripmamu helps people find the right travel agent for their holiday destinations at pocket-friendly prices. It also serves as a marketplace that allows customers to connect with each other. There’s a lot in store for the travel agents who sign up with Tripmamu. It was created by Somdev Sutta Gupta in 2016. Users looking for Holiday itineraries can explore Tripmamu.com to find Local Travel Experts – see their published itineraries – compare them – connect with them – customize the chosen itinerary according to their wish and safely book online with the chosen Travel Agent. It was selected and incubated by NASSCOM under the 10000 startup program and is currently operated from Nasscom Warehouse, Kolkata.
5. Bandhan Bank
Founded by Chandra Shekhar Ghosh in Kolkata in 2015, Bandhan Bank is established as a commercial bank that focuses on micro banking and general banking services with microfinance lending at its core. With the license of providing banking services to pan-India across consumer segments, Bandhan bank offers a wide selection of assets and liability products and services designed for its consumers across the country.
Bandhan started as a society that stood for financial inclusion and women empowerment through sustainable livelihood creation. It had a revenue of 16,694 crores rupees for the year ended 2021 with net revenue of 126 crores rupees.
6. Sasta Sundar
Buy genuine prescription drugs online and get them delivered to your home for free. India’s most reputable and fastest-growing online pharmacy. The communication on SastaSundar.com are only in the form of inquiry and indent and is subject to conformity by the said Independent Licensed Chemists. SastaSundar.Com acts as a bridge between users and the Independent Licensed Chemists and enables users to place their inquiry/indent. SastaSundar.com is supported by a network of Independent Licensed Chemists (sellers). All communications on SastaSundar.com are being forwarded to the said Independent Licensed Chemists. On confirmation of the same, the orders are fulfilled by the said Independent Licensed Chemists and delivered to users by the said Independent Licensed Chemists. Sastasundar reported revenues of Rs540 crore in 2020-21, as against Rs384 crore in 2019-20.
7. Rare Planet
Rare Planet is an early-stage startup that works with more than 2000 rural artisans across the country. The Kolkata-based startup is focusing on making handicrafts the next big thing.
Young Ranodeep Saha was in his first year of engineering when he started Rare Planet along with Vijay Kumar who is also a Co-Founder at Rare Planet. The Kolkata startup raised Rs 3.5 crore in a pre-Series A round led by Uni-M Ventures and Venture Catalysts. Wow Momo! Co-Founder Sagar Daryani was also present at the meet. The startup aims to disrupt the handicrafts space and is growing very fast Crunchbase ranks the startup at 8,988 globally.
8. Mihup Communications
It is an AI-based voice assistant that supports regional languages like Hindi & Bengali. A recent survey forecasts that the Voice Assistant Market will be worth $26 Billion by 2030. Which makes Mihup one of the most exciting startups in the City of Joy.
Biplab Chakraborty, Sandipan Chattopadhyay, Sandipan Mandal & Tapan Barman founded Mihup in 2016.
Mihup has to date raised around ₹575 million of funding in two rounds. As a result, it ranks 11,693 on Crunchbase, which can be considered a great ranking globally.
9. Kompanero
Accessories brand Kompanero is primarily focused on leather bags. Founded by Indranath Sengupta in 2014. Although they started from a small store in Bangalore, they are actually based in Kolkata.
They now have 26+ stores across India and are planning to expand to 100+ stores by the end of 2025.
Apart from India, the company has a huge presence abroad in Europe, the US, Korea, Japan, Canada, New Zealand, UK, and Australia. The brand has a huge presence in Australia with more than 300 stores.
“With 27 exclusively owned stores in India, Kompanero is present across major cities like Mumbai, Delhi, Bangalore, Chennai, Kolkata, and more. We recently launched a flagship store in Covent Garden, Central London. Our products are available in 1000+ selling points across the globe, out of which we retail in 350 boutiques in Australia. Apart from that, Kompanero is also listed on Amazon, Flipkart, and Myntra.” said Indranath Sengupta.
10. Legal Salah
Legal Salah is a fast-growing startup from the City of Joy. The Legal-Tech startup from Kolkata aims to improve the way we seek legal services with the use of technology.
Founded in 2016, the core team comprises CEO Subhash Jha, CFO Abhinit Kumar Singh, COO Sujit Jha, and CPO Tausif Warsi. The company recently raised $1M funding from I2I Capitals and plans to use the funds to expand rapidly in a post-covid world, where online services are seeing traction that has never been seen before.
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