Website – InfiVR
Founders – Rohal, Atish
This story of two entrepreneurs, who have put their heart and soul into pursuing their dreams, can motivate every entrepreneur out there who is trying to make it big in today’s world.
Startups have always been something that needs immense dedication towards the work and a determination to show their creativity to society. The most successful startups have all started small.
After ten years of providing Augmented Reality/Virtual Reality services to different sectors, Mr. Rohal and Mr. Atish decided to start a new venture of their own. They learned from their friends about the outdated technologies being used in the aerospace and defense industries and realized the perfect opportunity to launch their startup. The duo started the company InfiVR intending to provide the most advanced AR/VR technologies to such industries. They took the initiative to offer better products than the western alternatives at a much lower price.
Their passion for virtual reality technology and its applications in the real world has led their startup to achieve various accolades, even in its initial years. They have been continuously helping the Indian Air Force by providing them with innovative technologies for their mission-critical training and simulations. It is the only Indian startup to offer assistance to major aerospace companies in the country within such a short period. Apart from Indian organizations, it has earned a great reputation in the markets of North America, the Middle East, and the Asia Pacific.
They faced a series of challenges during their initial days. The major challenge was to convince the large companies about their services and products. Even after satisfying their requirements, they did not receive any call. Through this, they learned that their primary focus should be on providing quality work to companies willing to pay rather than chasing larger companies. Now, they work with many strategic partners who add a lot of value to the startup and also help in making the company popular worldwide.
The decision to chase quality instead of quantity has propelled InfiVR to new heights, and now it has come at par with more prominent companies. In its scale-up phase, it aims to lead the country by becoming the global leader in the sector of AR/VR technology. It has increased its branches from the aerospace and defense industry to aviation, pharmaceuticals, manufacturing, automobiles, healthcare, and other industries.
This company is different from other companies because of its highly advanced and revolutionary yet affordable products and services. Each of the company’s products is manufactured keeping in mind the requirements of its clients. Their ideology has also been appreciated worldwide, with 90 % of the revenue coming from overseas customers from North America and Europe.
InfiVR has kept its belief in its team members and partners and has always appreciated true potential, hard work, and talent. This instinct to survive, fight and take each problem as a challenge has made this company so profitable in and out of the country and is sure to grow more shortly.
What made you strike this business idea? What inspired you to start this company?
First and foremost we are passionate about virtual reality technology and its possibilities
The world today is adopting emerging trends in virtual reality & extended reality space very rapidly because of better efficiency and experience which it can offer. So when we heard our friends in the defence and aerospace industry complain about outdated technology when it came to simulation, training and production processes we immediately saw an opportunity. Alternatives available to them were either not good enough or cost prohibitive.
We are serial entrepreneurs with a history of running profitable businesses. And with such an immense opportunity around, we started this company to provide the latest cutting edge AR / VR technology to the aerospace, defence and manufacturing industry which exceeds westerns standards and that too in a cost-effective manner.
When did you start your business?
Like we mentioned we were into the AR / VR business for other sectors for quite some time. We provided VR solutions to leading retail players, real estate developers, etc. for marketing and showcasing purposes for more than 10 years. The acquisition of Oculus by Facebook and launching of mixed reality devices like Microsoft hololens, etc. lead us to think, and do something about the opportunity which was going to come by with the transformation of these AR / VR hardware devices which became much more robust and affordable.
What does success mean to your company?
We want to be a leader when it comes to Augmented Reality & Virtual reality technologies for core enterprises like; aerospace, defence, manufacturing and oil & gas. We want to create disruption in Industry 4.0 and Industry 5.0 using AR and VR.
How are you performing currently?
For just a young startup we are doing good. We have already provided virtual reality and augmented reality products to defence organizations like Indian Airforce who are using it for mission-critical training and simulations. In fact we are the only AR / VR company working with leading aerospace companies in India to provide solutions for their production and assembly processes. Not only that, we have seen very good international traction. Within a short span of time we have exported our products and solutions to defence and other organizations of North America, Middle East and Asia Pacific.
What is the biggest risk to your company?
We have been more successful in selling our product overseas compared to indian government organizations, because of their sluggish procurement process. Our major target business are defence and big manufacturing organisations who we want to help adopt the latest AR / VR technologies at mass scale. However, we have experienced the slow and complex nature of their procurement process, which is very challenging . Another issue which we have faced is that large conventional Indian organizations, despite holding a lot of cash, are not willing to face even minor risks or ready to invest into futuristic solutions like; AR / VR. They always wait for their competitors to try out first and take that risk. This mindset is the biggest challenge for innovative and deep tech companies like ours, which reduces speed of adoption and puts us at a disadvantage compared to our North american or European counterparts.
What are your plans for the funding?
We are bootstrapped but already profitable. We were approached by a few early stage investors but we respectfully did not perceive it, since we wanted to get clarity on the direction which we want to take, in our product development process. However we have joined hands with a few strategy partners which truly bring value to the table and help us reach out to large organizations which otherwise would have been difficult. And we are really thankful to our strategic partners. However now that we are in a scaleup phase, very soon we may have some good news for our well wishers on this front.
What is the biggest challenge you faced during your start-up setup?
Large companies asking us for proof of concepts, and never ever reverting back despite matching their technical and business expectations. This has been the biggest challenge for us, and at the same time it has been one of our biggest learnings. We learnt that big names should not be what we should be chasing, we should be chasing quality problem solving use cases for organizations which are willing to pay. Once we learnt this there was no looking back for us.
What does growth mean to you and your business?
Our ambition is not to build a unicorn, but to build the largest and most successful AR / VR product and solutions company. We want to empower our enterprise clients and home customers to leverage virtual reality and augmented reality technologies for their daily critical tasks, be it assistance while working, remote collaboration, training, learning or simulations.
How does your product stand different from others in the market?
We provide the most cutting edge and affordable solutions to any problem faced by our clients. We focus on user experience and do not let our users be it technicians, mechanics or consumers get overwhelmed by these futuristic technologies. Over the last few years we have developed inhouse IP which can be quickly leveraged to create a quality product. This gives us a deep technological and process advantage which make us very unique and unbeatable when it comes to our product and offerings.
Where are your start-up services spread?
We have a global customer base, 90% of our business comes from overseas customers. Our customers are prominently from the EU region, North America and MENA.
What does it feel to be the founder of your start-up? How does it feel to get up every morning and get on to work?
We take pride in being a unique startup company, a company which is very focused into core tech implementations of Virtual and Augmented Reality. We take pride in contributing to our nation and we aspire to provide our AR / VR solutions to each and every member of Indian Armed Forces and people working in core industrial companies. And to achieve this dream we have to come up with 5 new ideas daily, be it reaching out to our customers, or offering them our solutions or solving technological constraints. We have to constantly keep thinking and keep solving problems creatively. Few entrepreneurs think that funding solves all problems, It could solve your money issues and buy you time. But ultimately it is your creativity which will help you truly shine and build a true business. We are bootstrapped and despite the unprecedented COVID situation which has nearly brought many startups close to shutdown we are going strong because of the instinct to survive, fight and take each problem as a challenge to creatively solve it and get out of it.
Where do you see your business standing in the next 5 years?
We want to be leaders in AR / VR technology and solutions companies. And with the kind of traction we have developed we are confident to achieve that in a 5 year term.
Who supports you to stand this business and how?
We are really thankful to our partners and mentors who constantly guide and motivate us to not give up and to keep fighting. It is their experience that helps us understand the big picture and the worth which we are trying to build. Also, a balanced personal life is very important when you have to build a company, which takes at least 10 years and 30 hours a day. We really appreciate the faith and support provided by our friends and family despite the downtimes which we faced. And lastly, our team, company is nothing without a team; co-founders are just faced but the real body which keeps, working, walking and running is the team and we really appreciate the support from all our team members who are, who were and who will be part of InfiVR Journey.
