Soletrix, a first of its kind platform in Asia, comprehensive solar and sustainable energy syndicate marketplace and waste water management platform. The organization is founded in March 2017, run by the professionals from the background of engineering, management and health, and has a wide experience in the management consulting domain across the industry verticals, Rishi Mathur (28) and Dr. Mukul Rajput (37).
BWDisrupt interacted with the founder Rishi Mathur, to know more about their businessmodel-Tell us about how did this ideas came to start?We are India's young minds with an aim to unleash the potential of free, clean and renewable sources of energy in India and globally. Soletrix is just a small step with a big vision to create a sustainable energy ecosystem and manage the water crisis. This ecosystem is for every individual, company or organization, that are anyhow related to the energy or clean tech, to enable them grow seamlessly and also contribute towards building India the largest renewable energy hub in the World.
Since a long time we have been observing the rising energy crisis all across the globe. Fossil and thermal energy has come to the verge to exhaust. Rising power prices with much troubled and infrequent delivery, have become major reasons of concerns. As is India, the solar, renewable energy and waste water management sector is the next biggest industry in developing phase, and also the biggest need of the time, but is highly unorganized and nuclear. This sector is basically run by social, rural and unsung enterprises despite of their tremendous potential.
What were the challenges you faced initially?Lack of exposure to the power of internet and other hybrid business methodologies were also major issues this industry had been facing. Further, lack of innovative services & solutions dedicated and focused to solar and renewable energy industry too were among major concerns.
These issues made us to realize that there is an immediate need to develop a hybrid platform (online+ offline) to bring the entire industry on board and enable them to contribute to the clean energy ecosystem to the best of the capabilities and capacities. Moreover, there was a rising need to bring better profitability to the business in solar & renewable energy sector with the help of new technologies and the power of internet.
To find a better solutions to the above issues and concerns, Soletrix came into existence as Asia's (and probably the World's first) comprehensive solar & renewable energy products and services' syndicate marketplace and business platform.
The first version of Soletrix was launched in March 2017 in order to test and evaluate the market acceptance and commercial feasibility, which were surprisingly fantastic and above our expectations. In April, 2017, we launched the v2.0 and again, its results exceeded our expectations.
What's you vision with the startup?At Soletrix, we just don't only sell solar products online just like another ecommerce website, but we build ecosystem for the entire clean tech industry and do whatever is needful whether it need to promote solar & renewable energy merchandize, sell, promote businesses, or provide them our world class services & solutions to go the next level of profitability and overall business growth.
Unique Key Features and Services-While conceptualizing Soletrix, we did exhaustive research over this entire industry, its current situation, its market & growth prospects, problems faced by the industry, and other aspects quite critically. From that exercise, we devised some very very unique features and services/ offerings to be presented to solar and renewable energy industry (in both B2B, B2C segments) via Soletrix. Some of the features/ services Soletrix offer are as follows:
- Renewable Energy Syndicate Marketplace: Ecommerce and online cataloguing & sales platform for both B2B and B2C segment.
- Express Order: Enabling the potential buyers create RFP or custom order in just 2 minutes and more.
Moreover, we have introduced several interactive modules such as Soletrix Meetups (real-time knowledge sharing, meetup and networking session), Chapter Partnership, Soletrix Vendor Network, and more for businesses, professionals and individuals from this industry.
How It Is Different Than Others?As per our research and comparative study done so far, no another organization or platform provides such services & solutions for solar and renewable energy sector on such a global level.
Moreover, besides serving in India, we have also started to go global by having our first International collaboration in the form of our Chapter Partner in Philippines.
What's your present Funding Status?We are proudly a boostrapped and self sustainable platform as of now. In future we may go ahead to raise funds for expansion if required.
Monetization Model-Currently we presently offering our services & solutions absolutely free of cost to our customers as a part of our initial business and promotional strategies. Later on we have planned to go ahead for the following revenue streams:
- Subscription model
- Pay for service model
- Project cost model
- Commission model, and others.
Traction details-We are currently offering most of our services & solutions free of charge. As of now, we have nearly 16000 businesses, including manufacturers, suppliers, traders, service providers, professionals and other ventures In solar and sustainable energy sector, enjoying seamless business opportunities and direct customer’s RFPs and expanding their business nationwide without prejudice.
Throw some light on your Future Plans?- Getting into more comprehensive solutions & services in solar, renewable energy and waste water management sector.
- Developing Chapter Partners all across the globe.
- Penetrating into multiple product categories across all the verticals of solar and renewable energy.
What kind of Marketing Strategies are you employing?Our marketing and promotional activities are hybrid in nature just like the nature of our services. Being a bootstrapped platform we rely mostly on social media promotions and offline awareness activities.
What kind of problems did you overcome?- Rejection of idea from various manufacturers and suppliers of solar & renewable energy sector when we requested them to get on boarded on our platform
- Lack of funds as we are bootstrapped
- Small team with huge work responsibilities.
- Stringent timelines of launch and technical integrations.
Market Size & Opportunities available in this field?- India has the fifth largest power generation portfolio in the world and its current renewable energy contribution stands at 44.812 GW which includes 27.441 GW of Wind power and 8.062 GW of Solar power installed capacity in the country. (As on 31.07.2016).
- Fourth largest installed capacity of wind power.
- Third largest installed capacity of concentrated solar power (CSP) Renewable energy contributes 14.7% of the total installed capacity in the country as on 31.07.2016.
- Ambitious target of 175 GW of renewable power by 2022 which will include 100 GW of Solar power, 60 GW from wind power, 10 GW from biomass power and 5 GW from small hydro power.
- India's Annual Solar installations to grow over four times by 2017.
- 10.50 GW of utility-scale solar and grid connected rooftop solar capacity will be added by 2016-17.
- Wind energy accounts for nearly 61% (27.441 GW) of renewable installed capacity, thereby making India the world’s fourth largest wind energy producer.
- The Government of India has set targets which will take the total renewable capacity to 175 GW by the end of 2022. This includes 60 GW from wind power, 100 GW from solar power, 10 GW from biomass power.
- Renewable energy is becoming increasingly cost-competitive as compared to fossil fuel-based generation, like the prices of solar modules have declined by almost 80% since 2008.
- Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has revised the guidelines for all scheduled commercial banks including renewable energy in the categories priority sector, in addition to existing categories making significant inroads for renewable energy in the priority sector lending, also bank loans for solar rooftop systems to be treated as a part of home loan/ home improvement loan with subsequent tax benefits.
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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.
