The viral image-to-text AI tool that people were using to create hilarious and funny memes called DALL-E Mini has been rebranded as Craiyon. DALL-E Mini towards the end of May 2022 got extremely popular as the tool is open to use for everyone and people have used their vivid imagination to create the funniest and weirdest images using it.
There is also a Twitter account called @weirddalle that has crossed hundreds of thousands of followers and it solely posts images created using this tool. It got so popular that for a short span of time people couldn’t access it and anyone who tried to do it got the pop-up, “Too much traffic, please try again”.
Creator of the tool Boris Dayma started working on DALL-E Mini when he wanted to create a version of Open AI’s text-to-image generator, DALL-E 2. He developed this project in the span of one month and announced it on Twitter in July 2021. The tool enabled everyone in trying and experiencing the limitless possibilities of artificial intelligence and machine learning.
The tool previously known as DALL-E Mini has now been rebranded as Craiyon. Open AI’s DALL-E creates extremely impressive images but is currently not available for everyone to access. You have to join a waitlist in order to use the tool. Although it was inspired by Open AI’s tool, the internet sensation is not at all related to it and was rebranded to avoid any confusion.
According to the Craiyon website, Open AI asked the creators to change the tool’s name.It has also mentioned that it is increasing the number of servers so everyone can smoothly generate images even when there is a lot of traffic on the platform
According to the Craiyon website, Open AI asked the creators to change the tool’s name. In the FAQs section, the platform has also answered how they manage to keep the website free, how did they come up with the logo, and many similar questions. It has also mentioned that it is increasing the number of servers so everyone can smoothly generate images even when there is a lot of traffic on the platform. Until they are working to make the tool better, people may have to attempt a few times to get the output.
The tool is extremely easy to use and only needs you to input a prompt and then wait for some time. You can run one-word inputs to extremely complicated sentences and still be amazed by the results. People have created images of “Jesus Christ breakdancing” and also, “Elon Musk eating pizza”. People need to use the tool to experience what it can create.
Meta has currently entered into an unstoppable mode of sorts. From clearing off lawsuits for discrimination to coming up with a literal digital fashion store, where you buy clothes for your digital character but with actual money. The company has constantly managed to be in the news and keep tech geeks interested.
As the level of upgrades to the product goes one step ahead each week, Meta CEO, Mark Zuckerberg announces the rebranding of Facebook Pay to Meta Pay. Existing users of Facebook Pay don’t have to worry as the app will continue to function as it used to across Whatsapp, Instagram, and Facebook. This feature is going to be exclusively launched in America first and will gradually be released across the globe.
Zuckerberg states how futuristic this shift can be as your Meta Pay will be a digital wallet of yours through which you can buy items in virtual reality. You can even buy clothes in the metaverse through the money in your wallet will help you in claiming rights over your money. This will also come in handy in managing one’s online identity and ownership over items.
“In the future, there will be all sorts of digital items you might want to own or create. This can be digital clothing, art, videos, music, and more. Proof of your ownership is very important, especially if you want to transport these items, across services.”
The Meta CEO writes in a Facebook post.
Further explaining the change in the product, Zuckerberg talks about how ideally he aims for users to be able to sign into any augmented reality platform and once they do that, the items they own should be right there too. He plans to give users a seamless experience with their online goods. Even though the goal is still far to achieve but still Mark believes that this sort of interoperability will be beneficial for providing better experiences for the people.
Ultimately, the company plans to achieve a bigger market for the creators. According to them, if you have the liberty to use your digital assets to pay for a lot of things across the board, your value for the digital goods increases, thus creating a big market for creators. A few weeks back Zuckerberg also rolled out the Horizon Homes, a virtual home for you and your friends.
Amongst world news about cryptocurrencies, India has recently decided to add an additional tax to every future cryptocurrency transaction.
Recently, Bank of England Deputy Governor, Jon Cunliffe had some nice things to say about digital currency. Jon compared the crypto meltdown in May, where known names such as Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Terra’s Luna suffered huge losses, to the dot com crash that occurred at the beginning of the year 2000.
From 21-23 June, the Point Zero Forum took place in Zurich, which is a platform for investors, startups, and entrepreneurs on a global scale to come together and interact. Cunliffe who was present and spoke in the forum said that
Cunliffe also believes that regardless of the happenings in the crypto market, finance and the advancements in crypto technology will go far, hand-in-hand. According to him, crypto brings with it the possibilities of huge efficiencies and visible change in how the market is structured. This comes off as quite a surprising stand from the BoE as just last year, Governor Andrew Bailey stated, “if we look at the larger picture, evidence doesn’t point towards crypto being the next big thing.”
“The analogy for me here is the dot-com boom when $5 trillion just got wiped off. Many companies came and went, but the technology remained the same. The players that survived are in a dominant position right now.”
The Bank of England Deputy Governor said
As the Point Zero Forum discussion proceeded, Cunliffe talked about what opinion the Bank Of England has on crypto and digital currency, in general. An important issue that Central Bank was trying to solve at present is whether to start a completely solo CBDC which has an “on/off ramp for a fiat” or something that is “sufficiently flexible” for being used in private stable coins.
There is a saying which says, “ Actions speak louder than words”. This cannot be more true in the clear goal of the British Government and Bank of England alike, to introduce stable coins to their country with all the necessary framework done. The Treasury department of the British Government recently made the announcement that stable coins and bitcoins will be accepted as a form of payment from now on.
The cryptocurrency winter has now been going on for a long time with the market too, being highly unpredictable. With the news of a major country already planning to adopt cryptocurrency as a form of payment, it won’t be late before other countries follow.
Social Media Moghuls, Twitter announced yesterday that they are going to come up with Twitter ‘Notes’. Notes are going to be a way of writing and publishing, long-form content on the app. With this Twitter will also be giving its users the ability to express themselves well, without the fear of running out of the available 280 characters.
The company states that currently, only select users from the UK, US, Ghana, and Canada have the access to this feature. The feature is still in its initial testing phase. Twitter also says that Notes can be read on and off Twitter by people in most countries. “We plan to gradually expand the number of people with access to this feature. The timing will depend on what we learn during the current test,” the company said.
The users who are a part of the testing team will get to access a new ‘Write’ tab. Whenever they want to access all of their notes or write a new one, they can use this tab. The company is also testing to offer you a ‘Notes’ tab, a feature in your profile that will store your published work, making it easier for new people to connect with you and get access to your write-ups.
These new features will allow the users to create notes up to 2,500 words, a major upgrade in comparison to the current limitation of 280 characters. Users will get around 100 characters for the title. With this feature, users of Twitter will get the chance to include rich formatting and editing to their articles to make them more appealing.
One of these features also includes the ability to embed tweets, GIFs, photos, and videos into their Notes. Similar to tweets, Notes too will have their own link and can be separately tweeted, retweeted, and even sent in DM’s. Just like Twitter’s announcement in April that they are working on an edit feature for tweets, Notes will have its own edit option as well which will allow you to edit a note after being published.
The published note will be visible as a note card to readers across all platforms. One will need to click on the preview that will be available on these cards, which will then lead to the actual note. This comes across as a very drastic change from the platform, which previously focused on short tweets. However, there is no denying the fact that this change will surely add more value to the posts that will be made.
Twitter seems to be working hard on updating its features and giving the users a more enjoyable experience. Although any new updates about the Elon Musk and Twitter saga are not available, the last we heard was that the company agreed to provide Musk with the ‘firehose’ internal data for clarifying his claims on the bot account problem.
As per reports, a panel consisting of federal and state finance ministers is scheduled to meet in a week to discuss the goods and services tax on crypto transactions.
The panel will be meeting on two days which are 28-29 June. The meeting will take place in Chandigarh. The panel is seeking to broaden the tax net to track dealings in virtual digital assets in a more effective manner, people with knowledge on the matter said.
It is rumored that the panel won’t be finalizing a fixed rate during the course of this two-day meeting. However, the rate they will be discussing will be in the highest tax slab of 28%.
So the additional 28% tax will be implemented on top of the already 30% crypto income tax that users are paying on transactions.
In the first quarter of this year, Finance Minister, Nirmala Sitaraman announced that henceforth, a 30% tax will be levied on capital made from the transfer of virtual assets and a 1% tax at source on all crypto transactions. This was done with the aim of being able to assess the size of the crypto market in the country and track the users.
This step from the finance ministry led to the fall of crypto trading volume in India by 30%. The huge tax rate was too much to bear even for major exchanges such as Coinbase and FTX, making them consider leaving the Indian market entirely. To avoid the brunt of a 30% tax rate, a lot of Indians turned toward DeFi projects as they did not fall under the scope of the crypto income tax.
This move was done to remove any sort of confusion among the masses regarding the legal status of crypto transactions, but the imposition of a sales tax on digital currencies still seems to be unclear. A major reason for this is the ambiguity with which crypto goods and services are treated, that too with any sort of regulatory framework lacking.
India’s Goods and Services Tax Council (GST) was the first to propose a meeting to increase the taxes on crypto. The GST believes that crypto is no better than gambling your money away or wasting it on the lottery. The committee, therefore, plans to increase the tax rate so that Indian citizens are discouraged to buy crypto.
Technology has evolved at a breakneck pace. We are now witnessing advancements that were unthinkable in the past. The metaverse, a unique, immersive virtual environment that is swiftly taking over the internet, is one of these advancements for many people. It may have initially appeared in science fiction films, but it is now more than fiction.
Metaverses are permeating the internet as virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) become more popular. In 2022, it is expected that 105 million consumers would engage in at least one AR or VR activity every month. While the Metaverse isn’t quite what science fiction has envisioned it to be, it nevertheless has limitless utility as a new computing platform.
On Google, the term “metaverse” returns 677,000 results. Meanwhile, the hashtag #metaverse is popular on Instagram, with over 60,000 posts, and is tweeted over 500 times each hour on Twitter.
A Deep Dive into Metaverse Marketing
Digital marketers must keep up with the most recent technology advancements. Understanding the metaverse and its full potential is part of this. What marketers need to realize is that the metaverse isn’t simply a fad; it appears to be here to stay and on its way to becoming the next big thing.
Image Credits: Influencer Marketing Hub
What strategies may marketers use to adapt as the metaverse grows?
First and foremost, marketers must remember the importance of millennials and Gen Zers as a target demographic. Some sorts of metaverses, such as games like Roblox and technologies like VR, are also popular among these generations. Let’s look at how marketing can be done in the metaverse with that in mind.
Parallel metaverse marketing within real-life marketing
Create marketing experiences that connect with real-life events or that are similar to what your company already does in the real world. As a result, developing an online platform where non-fungible token (NFT) horses may be sold, raced, and bred appears to be a natural next step for them.
Make collectibles available
People enjoy collecting stuff, and the metaverse provides them with yet another platform to do so. You can replicate the experience in the metaverse by providing assets or limited-edition items that can only be obtained in the metaverse.
The Collector’s Room, for example, is available in the Gucci Garden Roblox experience. In the metaverse, it allows consumers to gather limited-edition Gucci products. Gucci made a total of 286,000,000 Robux from the game’s initial sales of collectible products.
Engage with existing communities
Advertising is disliked by many people. As businesses try to break into the metaverse, it’s critical that they don’t offend those who are already there. You’ll also need the favorable feedback of these users because you’ll be marketing to them.
Remember that you can’t simply enter a new platform without taking into account the new format. When businesses collaborate with members of the Roblox developer community to create things and experiences, for example, they gain more traction. Similarly, when O2 put on a Fortnite performance, they teamed up with developers who were already experts on the game.
Consider this a form of influencer marketing. Community members become key aspects of the execution of your project since user-generated content is important to your campaigns.
Continuously experiment
It’s an exciting moment to be a marketer right now. While there are some guiding principles that can help marketers determine what techniques and methods to use, the metaverse is still a relatively young platform with plenty of potential for experimentation. Best practices are still being defined, and paradigms are still being developed in their entirety. This provides marketers a lot of leeways to explore new things and be unique in their approaches.
The Metaverse Marketing Strategy
The metaverse is approachable, intriguing, and has the ability to launch brands into a marketing realm that has never been seen before. Traditional advertising, on the other hand, is unlikely to be successful in the metaverse. To make the metaverse work for them, marketers will need to think not only outside the box but also outside the physical world. The sky is the limit in the metaverse, therefore we’ll be keeping a pixelated finger on the pulse of it, even if it’s still a few years away.
Digital marketing necessitates engaging interaction, which metaverse gives in spades. As a result, we may claim that metaverse is the new digital marketing platform.
In the digital environment, there are several virtual conferences, events, and meetings. It is appealing to all people, especially in COVID-19 situations. Even if it’s only virtually, they can still be together. Metaverse will remain with us for a long time, based on evolving consumer behavior and historical experiences. It’s just getting started, but the metaverse for digital marketing will be fascinating.
Because it’s still so new, even simple concepts can work for brands. Many companies have already entered the fray. We also know that many more are on their way. The Metaverse for Brands is making a lot of noise.
Create a Unique Brand Experience
People nowadays pick a brand above competitors based on their brand experience. By collaborating with digital and content makers, Metaverse can assist you in creating a one-of-a-kind experience.
In marketplaces, they promote your brand by providing an engaging experience. Metaverse allows you to communicate with your brand in a unique way. As a result, you’ll be more noticeable, memorable, and, most importantly, intriguing.
Expand Audience Reach
To begin with, joining the Metaverse marketplaces allows you to access new audiences. Diverse communities exist, ranging from digital producers. People are eager to participate since it is new and has increased in real-world value.
These interactions in the Metaverse markets will allow you to expand your consumer base as people become familiar with you and talk about you.
What are the Opportunities in the Metaverse?
On the other side, the metaverse’s opportunities outnumber the obstacles. The metaverse for brands is a fertile ground where you may sow your seeds.
Campaigns such as games and events are excellent opportunities to connect brands with customers.
Build Strong Bonds
On metaverse, you can form long-term relationships with your target audience because it is very participatory. They will appreciate participating in your virtual events or enjoying your games. You may either create your own space or join one that already exists. Branded events and campaigns are already taking place in places like Roblox.
Campaigns such as games and events are excellent opportunities to connect brands with customers. Instead of promoting yourself, give them an engaging experience. You’ll have more active users spending time in your space as a result.
Boost Your Visibility
The metaverse for companies is a hot issue, but it’s still in its infancy. When you have a slightly exciting concept, your name will be known all over the world. Everyone is talking about the current campaigns. You’ll reach out to more people, even if they’re not in the metaverse.
Focus on engagement marketing
You can welcome potential customers to your online store. People find it appealing to shop on eCommerce websites or on social media. They’ll adore a 3D store where they can roam around and engage with other consumers virtually.
These shops are displacing physical stores because individuals can shop from the comfort of their own homes. It’s similar to browsing Amazon’s wares, but with a much more realistic feel. They can even sample the goods. As a result, you have a better chance of persuading them to buy. As a result, interaction marketing has a lot of potential in this area.
What are the Digital Marketing Challenges in the Metaverse?
Despite all of the benefits of metaverse for digital marketing, there are certain drawbacks to consider. As a result, we will begin to discuss new themes in digital marketing:
One of them is intellectual property ownership. You might not be able to receive intellectual property protection if your content producer is an AI. In this circumstance, you are unable to assert your legal rights to your work.
On the metaverse, there are some security vulnerabilities that need to be addressed. You may learn more about how the platform will use your data by visiting their website.
It’s difficult to prove who owns a digital asset. Let’s pretend you made money online. You’ll have to show proof that it’s yours.
Why Brands Should Market In the Metaverse?
While technology creates its own realm, brands will always be present. For brands looking to reach out to a global audience, this is the perfect opportunity for globalization.
It will, without a question, expand quickly. To make a major leap towards your goals, you need to appear in the metaverse before it’s too late. We’ve all witnessed this, first with the launch of brand websites and later with the rise of eCommerce.
there are numerous reasons for companies to participate in metaverse marketing, including the exponentially growing number of users, endless chances for brands, readily implementable concepts (which are not conceivable in the physical world), and many others.
To summarise, there are numerous reasons for companies to participate in metaverse marketing, including the exponentially growing number of users, endless chances for brands, readily implementable concepts (which are not conceivable in the physical world), and many others.
Metaverse marketing will allow you to be daring with your advertising ideas if you have them. You’re beyond the physical world’s bounds in this universe, with boundless possibilities. As a result, this is an excellent moment for brainstorming and developing effective advertising.
The startup ecosystem is continuously evolving and growing in India but every startup founder know that the major challenge they will face during the earlier stages of the company is finding the right mentors, investors and connects,
Connect Club is a networking platform that has been solely designed to make the life of investors as well as startups easier. Founde in 2019, Team Sociobits connected with the Founder of Connect Club, Mr. Nikhil Srivastava to know more about the company.
Team Sociobits: Could you tell us a little about yourself?And how did you ideate Connect Club?
Mr. Nikhil Srivastava: I am a final year engineering student and I have been working on Connect Club for the past two and half years. This is actually my second startup and my I ideated my first startup when I was in the 10th grade, which was a video game console renting platform. I had an extra video game console that I used to rent out to people and this was doing pretty well. But the major problem that I was facing was that I did not know how to escalate it.
As a 10th-grade student, I knew what an incubator was and what an investor was but coming from a service class family, there was no one to guide me. I did not have anyone to tell me how I can convert my idea into a startup or a full-fledged business. That’s when I found a mismatch in the industry and I thought that the startup ecosystem was a very disconnected market where it is difficult for people to network with each other.
When I moved on to pursue my degree in engineering, the thought of doing something about this once again crossed my mind and I finally came up with Connect Club.
“I did not have anyone to tell me how I can convert my idea into a startup or a full-fledged business. That’s when I found a mismatch in the industry”
Team Sociobits: When you pitched the idea of creating Connect Club, what was the first reaction of your friends and family?
Founder: Initially, I got a mixed reaction for my friends, but my family has always been supportive about this. In fact, my family completely supported me and also believed that I can do whatever I wanted to do. My father also offered financial help with this project. Among my friends, there were a set of friends who were very supportive and nice to me, and they also joined me as the co-founding team members. I would also say that Connect Club is Connect Club because of them.
Team Sociobits: Basically, what is Connect Club all about?
Founder: Connect Club is a networking platform for the startup ecosystem where investors, incubators, VCs, and accelerators from all over the world can connect on one networking platform. Like-minded people can connect with each other, share their thoughts, and attend video calls and meetings, so it is a full-fledged networking platform focused on the startup ecosystem.
Team Sociobits: Since 2019, how has your journeywith Connect Club been so far?Did you face any challenges in particular?
Founder: My journey began in 2019; I think that challenges are something that every startup faces during their journey and I faced certain challenges too but I got good support from my friends and family so they helped me get over these challenges and also smoothen out my journey.
Team Sociobits: Do you have any competitors? Is there anyone similar to Connect Club?Why do you think startups and investors will choose Connect Club?
Founder: See, there are many platforms that let investors and startups connect with each other, and there are multiple companies that are still doing it. But when it comes to networking, we are one of the first few companies that are doing it.
Also, if you look at the startup ecosystem, it’s a huge market and only in India, around 1000 startups are emerging every day. Especially in India, startups are not just coming from metropolitan cities but also from tier-two and tier-three cities and these startups don’t get the same access or exposure that startups from the cities get. The startups emerging from the metropolitan cities have the access to go to networking events and it is easier to meet investors. So, I am trying to develop a platform where no matter where you are emerging from, you get the same access.
“Especially in India, startups are not just coming from metropolitan cities but also from tier-two and tier-three cities and these startups don’t get the same access or exposure that startups from the cities get.”
-Founder of Connect Club
That way, if you are starting from the interiors of India, you can still connect with an investor from anywhere chat with them and network with them. And but obvious, ‘network is the networth’ and by joining Connect Club, you are increasing your net worth.
Team Sociobits: Did COVID-19 had an impact on your startup in any way?
Founder: In a way, the pandemic actually helped us because most of the networking events that were talking place were at a halt or they were converted into an online format because of which, the networking in the startup ecosystem was at a pause. That is when, people started looking at our platform. Though, during the pandemic, we were still at a prototype stage, we started seeing good response from the limited number of users we had.
Team Sociobits: What do you have planned for the future? Do you have any immediate goals set to be achieved this year?
Founder: I aim to be dominating the networking platform of the startup ecosystem and my goal is to have a networking platform emerging from India that could be reached to a global scale. Currently, most of the networking sites that exist are from a foregin country. Indian sites that have a global presence are very limited. And my goal for five years is that I want Connect Club to grow on a level where after five years, if someone says that I have startup, then the other person’s first response should be, ‘what’s your Connect Club like?’
Connect Club wants to make it easier and ultimately upgrade the way startups and investors connect with each other so that funding would be a hassle free job.
The government of America and Meta seem to have come to an agreement to clear up a lawsuit. The lawsuit was regarding the tendency of Facebook’s algorithm to show discriminatory housing advertisements. Just a week back they were hit with multiple lawsuits from across America over their app being addictive.
According to the press release, the company gave advertisers the option to specify that some of their housing ads will not be shown to people belonging to certain protected groups. Meta has further agreed in front of the government that they will change their ad algorithm and they have to pay $115,000 to settle the case. The first case done against the company for the same matter goes back to 2019 and back then, they even tried to rectify the issue on their part.
The Department of Justice(DOJ), says that it happened for the first time that they are dealing with a case of algorithmic violations under the Fair Housing Act. Back in 2019, Facebook was accused of unlawfully discriminating based on color, race, religion, sex, and disability, by restricting who can view housing ads. Ashley Settle, a Facebook spokesperson, talks about
“building a novel machine learning method without our ads system that will change the way housing ads are delivered to people residing in the U.S. across different demographic groups.”
As per the terms of the settlement, Meta will need to immediately stop using an advertising tool for housing ads that takes the help of a discriminatory algorithm. They were also asked to stop the usage of their ‘Lookalike Audience’ tool which relies on factors such as race, sex, and other characteristics. The company was asked to develop a system that addresses the racial and other disparities caused by its personalization algorithms in its ad delivery system.
Meta is now taking active steps along with the US Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), to make sure that their machine-learning technology is working in such a way that the ad will only be targeted and shown to the people who are actually eligible to see it. The company will monitor factors such as race, gender, and ethnicity to measure how far off is the targeted audience as opposed to the audience interacting right now.
Meta has also decided to be transparent from now on about their systems and the progress they are making on their new algorithm. The settlement shows that they will need to prove by the end of 2022 that its algorithm doesn’t have any malice and works the way it’s intended to. If the government does approve it, a third body will be given the responsibility to investigate and verify the workings on an ongoing basis.
Although these conversations have created a lot of hype around the product, there still needs to be unified standards around the app. This is probably the direction a lot of tech companies have decided to take as well. Microsoft, Epic Games, Meta, and 33 other companies have come together to set up an open standards group for Metaverse, called the Metaverse Standards Forums.
The forum promises to promote and monitor the standards of augmented reality technology. It brings together leading standard organizations and companies for industry-wide cooperation on interoperability standards, which are extremely important in building the open metaverse. The forum also talks about exploring where the lack of interoperability is holding back the metaverse deployment.
“The Metaverse Standards Forum is a unique venue for coordination between standards organizations and industry, with a mission to foster the pragmatic and timely standardization that will be essential to an open and inclusive metaverse,”
Neil Trevett, Khronos President.
The forum is pretty clear in its focus on pragmatic, action-based projects such as implementation prototyping, hackathons, plugfests, and open-source tooling to accelerate the testing. Other founding members of the forum are the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), Nvidia, Qualcomm, Sony Interactive Entertainment, Khronos, and Lamina1 among many others.
There are still some expected names missing, as there is no sign of Apple on the list. Experts believe them to be busy with creating their own AR & VR technology. Companies such as Niantic and Roblox who have been pioneers in the world of video games and virtual worlds also seem to be missing. The forum is expected to schedule its first meeting in July of this year, as they are waiting for more members to come on board.
VR, AR, and all the other virtual worlds can be grouped under one term, Metaverse. Multiple standards organizations already exist for different sub-fields and have even become a part of the new forum. Open standards will make it simpler for the developers to create the same content for several platforms or consumers. This will also help in exporting the data from one service to another.
All of us may have faced a situation where our two-wheeler may have broken down in the middle of nowhere and we would try to figure out a way to get out of it. If you have not faced it, you may definitely have seen it somewhere. Developing a solution that can take care of it sounds hard but is definitely not impossible.
Mechanify is a tech-enabled two-wheelers servicing company based in Haryana that was founded by Viren Thakur (CEO) and Ujwal Seth (COO) in 2019. Mechanify makes its customers and garage owners experience a seamless, transparent, and cost-effective two-wheeler service industry. Mr. Viren Thakur and Mr. Ujjwal Seth met through a common friend and decided to take on Mechanify together.
Team Sociobits connected with the Co-Founders of Mechanify to know more about the founding of the company.
Team Sociobits: How did you come up with the idea of Mechanify?And what issues areyou solving through Mechanify?
Co-Founders: The idea of Mechanify was reflected when Viren Thakur was riding his bike and it broke down in between. He was unable to find a repair shop or any roadside assistance. That is when we started thinking that why can’t we start a business which solves such problems for many of us who get stuck in between roads due to our bikes or scooters.
The idea is simple. Through our company, we are building a technology platform that bridges the gap between the customers and garages while making two-wheeler services more accessible, transparent, cost-effective, and standardized.
The company raised its first round of funding in September 2021 and Then we moved on to raising the second round of funding from India Accelerator and Zypp Electric.
Team Sociobits: How has your journey with Mechanify been so far?
Co-Founders: Starting in 2019, it took some time to make a product that fits the market. At that time we ran our operation in Rohini, Delhi, and side by side searched for investments, we were facing a lot of challenges with respect to the finances.
Mechanify was growing well until the COVID-19 pandemic occurred. We started to lose all our hopes. We then began exploring the EV Market and our company ran trials with Zypp Electric and eBikeGo, these companies were facing issues with the servicing during the lockdown. Then the Founder of Zypp Electric, Akash Gupta saw the spark in us and helped us with building connections.
The company raised its first round of funding in September 2021 and received great traction and a good response from the market. Then we moved on to raising the second round of funding from India Accelerator and Zypp Electric. Zypp Electric invested as a strategic partner. As of now, are growing exponentially month on month.
Team Sociobits: Could you point out some of the major challenges that you faced in your journey? Also, do you have any competitors?
Co-Founders: In organizing the unorganized two-wheeler market, we faced a lot of challenges. This included challenges like the credit underwriting problem. The traditional mindset was another biggest challenge.
“We want to reach a level where if a spaceship lands on Earth, its service should be done by Mechanify only.”
-Co-Founders of Mechanify
Some of our competitors include GoMechanic.in, GOBumper, and Hoopy. But Mechanify is a one-stop solution for all two-wheeler needs. Mechanify is creating a seamless experience for the complete supply chain, right from procurement of the spares to fitting them in the end user’s vehicle.
Team Sociobits: Do you have any goals set to be achieved this year? What is your roadmap for the future?
Co-Founders: We have set a goal for this year to close partnership and franchise deals in Delhi/NCR and expand to other cities as well. For the future, we would only like to say one line; We want to reach a level where if a spaceship lands on Earth, its service should be done by Mechanify only.
Mechanify is taking care of all the two-wheeler servicing needs like pick and drop, garage services, swapping stations, spare parts, roadside assistance, and more. The company wants to manage your servicing needs and make maintenance hassle-free for customers.
