Digital sales and marketing services firm Benddit secures $250K in seed funding

Gurugram-based Benddit Global Business Private Limited, which operates a technology platform to connect sales and marketing experts with companies, has raised $250,000 (Rs 1.76 crore) in its seed round of funding from a clutch of undisclosed individuals investors.

In a telephonic interaction with TechCircle, Vani Gupta Dandia and Venkatesh Rangachari, co-founders of the venture, said that the investors comprised a mix of sector experts and experienced professionals in the sales and marketing domain.

The company will use the capital to ramp up its technology, build a team of experts, onboard service providers and to develop marketing initiatives, they added.

“During our stints as independent consultants, we realised that companies preferred to treat every sales and marketing-related requirement as an assignment. Also, we realised that more often than not, finding the right talent to execute the job was always a cumbersome process. Also, services of good quality professionals in this space were not always available for startups,” Dandia said.

Rangachari added that the gig economy has created an unaddressed gap, where many freelance professionals available in the market are unable to connect with companies.

Benddit

The venture was incorporated in August 2018 by MBA graduates Dandia, Rangachari and Vipul Gupta. However, the company went live only in January this year.

Using proprietary algorithms, Benddit connects companies with the right experts/service providers based on their digital and marketing needs. According to Rangachari, the client and expert are matched after assessing the problem statement of the company based on 25-30 parameters.

The startup also takes responsibility for the design and execution and ensures that the project is delivered as per the company’s requirements.

Benddit’s value proposition is that companies of all sizes today require outsourced expertise that is innovative, flexible, available at the right price and comes with high service standards.

“Depending on the nature of the problem statement and size of the organisation, Benddit caters to both small and large organisations, providing full stack as well as specific solutions,” Dandia added.

Alternatively, in a press note, the company said that it has already onboarded more than 100 service providers operating in advertising, public relations, search engine optimisation, digital marketing, influencer marketing, research, visual merchandising, on-ground activation, customer relationship management tools and many more.

“The current market size for outsourced sales and marketing spends by companies is almost $20 billion,” Rangachari told TechCircle.in

Currently, the company generates revenue by charging service providers and experts a fee but keeps it free for clients currently. In the long term though, Benddit intends to charge companies a fee as well.

The Moms Co, Fireside Ventures, Kapiva Ayurveda and Yumlane are among its clientele. Benddit claims that it currently has no direct competition in this space.

Dandia has previously worked at fast-moving consumer goods majors like Pepsico, Unilever and Reckitt Benckiser. Prior to Benddit, she co-founded Hypersonic Advisors, a Gurugram-based management consulting firm, along with co-founder Gupta.

Gupta earlier worked at Practo, Accenture, Pepsico and Airtel.

Rangachari has worked at companies like Unilever, Michelin and Airtel as part of his earlier professional stints. In his earlier assignment, he led the growth vertical at bus aggregator Shuttl.