You must have heard your female friends and relatives rant about standing and taking the leak, they have been complaining about fact that men don't require toilets to be sparklingly clean to relieve themselves. So, three Delhi boys, tired of listening to women rant — “I wish I could stand and pee wherever I want” — made this possible.
PeeBuddy, a Delhi-based startup, launched in mid 2014, builds women’s hygiene and intimate care products to enhance the quality of life for women across the country.
BWDisrupt interacted with Deep, Rahul and Mohit (Co-founders) of PeeBuddy.in to know more about their Eureka moment and their vision about the startup.Edited excerpts from the Interview:-BW: How did this idea become into a business venture?
Ans: We are Team First Step Digital, an award winning Product Innovation Company with unique Intimate Personal Hygiene Products. We identify problems faced by women and solve them with our products. Our Flagship Product PeeBuddy is India’s First Patented (Design Patent Granted), Disposable, Portable Female Urination Device that allows women to stand & urinate avoiding any contact with dirty/common toilet seats. So no more wiping of seat, making chairs or holding it in in all dirty or unfriendly toilets. It can also be used by Pregnant Ladies & by those who are suffering from Arthritis and cant stand & sit often
The idea was born on a road trip from Delhi to Jaipur in 2014. We were four couples on a road trip. The women were really troubled, they were not drinking water/beverages from the fear of using a dirty toilet, few of them almost cried and we stopped at every fuel station on the way.
They always wanted the toilets to be clean and were utterly unsatisfied by their hygiene levels there. The Eureka moment happened when one of the wives said that she wished she was in Europe because there she could have access to a reusable, plastic device to urinate in any dirty toilet. This is when it struck Deep (Founder) that women in India don’t have access to clean public loos when they’re on the go and there was a need for a device to address this issue.
Our Products Empower them to live, travel & operate better. The business model revolves around identifying such issues and solving those using our unique solutions.
BW: What are the unique key points of your startup?
Ans: We are offering products for women intimate hygiene & wellness. Once again, PeeBuddy, female urination device (FUD) is the flagship product and is an easy to carry, disposable tunnel-shaped paper urination device that ergonomically fits between the legs to enable women to stand and urinate. The working of the device and its design has been adapted from that of a funnel.
PeeBuddy aims to break the insensitivity about issues concerning women intimate hygiene. Women these days have a lot on their plates. We believe our products can assist them in taking care of their Intimate Hygiene & Wellness needs in many peculiar situations which are not discussed openly including lack of friendly toilets (PeeBuddy), menstrual pains for which they have to take pills sprays (We have launched India's First Herbal Feminine Pain Relief Patch for discreet/long relief), Sanitary disposal (We have oxo-degradable Disposal Bags for clean & hygenic disposal of pads, tampons, panty liners), Cleaning of Intimate Areas (We have intimate wet wipes) etc. Our intent is to assist women travel, live & operate better.
BW: How are you different from the existing competitors?
Ans: A lot of brands and start-ups are entering into women intimate hygiene space with creams/shampoos etc but so far PeeBuddy is the only product giving freedom to women to stand and urinate. Now women can ditch squatting while urinating and prove to be best in case of arthritis and pregnancy. Our other products also work around solving a problem and we were the first ones to launch them including Female Urination Device, Intimate Wet Wipes, Disposal Bags & Herbal Feminine Pain Relief Patches
BW: What is the funding status and monetization model?
Ans: We kicked off as a boot strap company and recently raised Rs 2.96 Cr in a Pre-Series A Funding from Indian Angel Network.
BW: What challenges are you facing in running your business?
Ans: Reaching out to women is something we are working on but we are happy that most of our customers make time to spread a word about us
BW: How has been the people responses so far?
Ans: PeeBuddy aims to break the insensitivity about issues concerning women intimate hygiene. The startup had sold about 20,000 packs, approximately worth 15 lakhs during the first year of its launch. Recommended by best of doctors for use during pregnancy/arthritis, PeeBuddy is available at leading stores like Mom&Me, NewU, Religare, 24×7 and online portals like Flipkart, Snapdeal, Amazon, SafetyKart etc. Last year we sold around 100,000 units
BW: How do you look at expansion?
Ans: In terms of expansion we would continue to identify Intimate Hygiene Related hassles faced by women and solve them with simple products.
BW: What are your marketing plans?
Ans: We would keep our focus to reach out to more customers online followed by retail stores
BW: What has been the biggest learnings so far?
Ans: As an entrepreneur we just cant give up, problems will come everyday and so would solutions. We have to keep trying! There is a huge market potential for us in the intimate hygiene and personal care market with over 90 million women in urban areas and over 210 million in rural areas. The global feminine hygiene market was valued at US$ 19 Billion in 2015 and is expected to reach US$ 35.2 Billion by 2024 end.
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Soumya is a young writer and journalist, with bachelors in Multimedia and Mass Communication. She is an alumini of the Asian College of Journalism, and finds politics and sustainability intriguing beats to work with.
