• Power Couple stories always attract readers and contribute to imagining to what extent there could be an amalgamation of two different kinds.
• Ruchi Kalra & Asish Mohapatra are India’s first couple to each run a Unicorn Business - Oxyzo and OfBusiness respectively.
• Co-founded in 2015 by the husband-wife duo of Mohapatra and Kalra, along with Bhuvan Gupta, Nitin Jain and Vasant Sridhar.
Background of the Company
According to OfBusiness, it is the first company founded in early 2016, which included the couple along with three more members. It is also known as OFB Tech Private Limited which is in the industry of supplying raw materials.
Following its funding round last year, the company's valuation reached the USD 1 billion threshold. In April of last year, the company received investment from SoftBank and other well-known figures, which caused its valuation to soar. But his strategy was regarded with skepticism in a culture obsessed with lofty ideals and expensive funding. "Think big, raise more, burn and grow," they exhorted.
Mohapatra remained unwavering despite experiencing a loss in FY18, insisting that profitability is where actual potential lies. OfBusiness serves as a reminder that fundamental business concepts can be the basis for long-term success in a start-up world full of buzzwords. (Source: Forbes)
All about Oxyzo
According to Bloomerg, after their first start-up, Kalra, Mohapatra, and a group of three other individuals entered the financial industry in 2017, creating Oxyzo, a brilliant mashup of "oxygen" and "ozone."
Investors responded favorably to the company's goal of offering acquisition financing to failing firms in India, which resulted in a stunning Series A fundraising round supported by Matrix Partners and Creation Investments.
The impact was enormous, and Oxyzo soon rose to prominence as one of India's top fintech unicorns, all under Kalra's leadership, who was recognized as the nation's first female founder to accomplish such a feat.
first female founder in India of a profitable, fintech unicorn.
Serving more than 3000 SMEs in India, it currently has 2000+ crores in AUM and disburses more than 4,000 crores annually. Additionally, it features a data warehouse with a focus on supply chain analytics and more than 500 people.
Since its start, it has paid out loans totaling more than $2 billion while maintaining a profit. According to Kalra, the two startups are independently managed by various offices and teams. However, they focus on the same sectors, including subcontracting in manufacturing and infrastructure which is based in Gurgaon. (Source: IndiaToday)
The parade of vanity metrics that are waved about like banners of success amid the start-up frenzy certainly astounds the entrepreneur. He remarks with a hint of irony that it appears there is no path to profitability, simply a maze of "what if" possibilities.
He believes that jargon-filled terms like "gross margin profitability" and "contribution margin profitability" do little more than hide the obvious fact that the company isn't serious enough about its operations to generate any genuine profits. It's time to see through the smoke and mirrors and concentrate on what counts in the race for success.
Honestly, as an individual with a developing interest in startup ad the respective field, the importance of “jargon” as mentioned above is an important analytical criterion but may or may not be a value aspect criteria. The ideology of profitability and its road is much more a subjective topic than just a statement that cuts off technicalities. But profit or not, the success believed by the couple is surely and will always be greater than mere numbers.
Are you working on an innovative product? We would love to hear your story. Share it with us at [email protected]
Edited by Shruti Thapa