It’s all about creating a cool and convenient way to connect co-dwellers with interesting offerings and businesses present in their own neighbourhoods. The platform is aimed at helping users seek, help and discover information through other users in their hoods by virtue of common experiences, interests, usage patterns or recommendations. Targeted towards the socially conscious and aware members of a neighbourhood, Living Local mostly appeals students, pet owners, young parents and experience-savvy dwellers who wants to heighten their sense of belonging.
The platform is a part of Urbane Media Enterprise founded by Anubhav Anand and Neeraj Vasudeva.
Anubhav Anand, CEO and cofounder of
Living Local gives us more on his ‘hood connecting’ startup.
Why did you decide to start this venture?
While I was studying and working in the US, I felt a great sense of community connectedness in the form of community magazines and community forums. Essentially it brought people of the same area together with common things around them to explore and share. The small local businesses also thrived on the targeted reach and connect. When I moved back to Mumbai I saw a huge need for that kind of community support for all the migrants into the city.That triggered the idea.
Share with us what’s special about this venture?
Living Local was conceptualized keeping the human psyche in mind. The sense of belonging to a neighborhood and sharing is critical for the success of a neighborhood networking platform. We have focussed on that by giving users an online identity based on their Hood. We have kept the categories of communication directed towards relevant neighborhood discussions that enhance and enrich local living.
A lot of competitors in the local neighborhood space are content providers whereas we are a UGC (user generated content) platform. By the people. For the people.
How did you manage to fund this idea?
We raised 200,000 dollars in seed funding from Rattan Chadha, former CEO of Mexx Europe Holding. Having a running proof of concept for almost a year in 1 neighbourhood of Mumbai was one of the main catalysts that helped get funding from our initial investor to grow the idea.
What are/what will be your monetization paths?
We start monetizing by the end of 2017 by giving the local businesses and service providers a targeted reach to their intended audience. Subscription based models for the merchants that help them reach out to their local audience is the first monetization model. The same model will also be applied to the consumer side wherein a user or a family can opt for different levels of discounted e-cards with a variety of interest based service providers.
Tell us how the business has grown so far
We started in 4 neighborhoods in Mumbai and are currently pan-Mumbai in 56 neighborhoods. Organic growth has seen over 20,000 users till now. The profit percentages and other numbers come into play in our next phase of monetization.
What marketing strategies and plans are in place to grow the business?We will be putting out a never before done HOOD GUIDE for each neighbourhood. From your local authorities (MLA, BMC) to places for Aadhar card, closest RTO, Local attractions and landmarks. It’s your cheat sheet kind of Guide with all relevant neighbourhood related information in one place.
What is the market size and opportunity?
About 323 million people in India accessed the Internet through their mobile phones in 2016, which corresponds to about 24.3 percent of the country’s population. Both figures are forecast to increase in the coming years, with projections to amount to 524.5 million and around 37.4 percent respectively in 2021.
Any challenges faced setting up?
We would be a one-off case if we didn’t face any challenges. The big (and unique) challenge was inviting people to a platform that was not providing content but expecting people to generate content to share. It took time for people to join the platform.
Share with us some best and worst memories while running the business?
The best memories are always when you are building things. The first use-case when a user reached out to a fellow hooder on the platform and got his query answered was a sense of achievement for all of us at that point of time.
But the best memories have been playing basketball and chess in the office during breaks and letting loose after a tough day.
There are no such worst memories but it’s always hard to see some good employees leave. Fortunately for us the reasons have been moving to a different city or even starting their own venture with their friends. That also was a great example of a bad event turn into a good memory when one of our graphic designers quit but gave the reason for quitting as being inspired to start his own graphic company with a couple of his friends.
BW Reporters
Regina is a reporter for BW Businessworld. In her previous assignments, she has worked with Independent television Network as a news anchor and reporter in Sri Lanka
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