boAt: The Voyage of Success
Today we embark on boAt's journey, and look at how far it has come. Hop on!
“Vessels large may venture more, but little boats must keep near shore”, they say.
Today we bring to you the story of a little boAt that ventured further, yet managed to remain afloat.
The start of boAt’s journey dates back to 2016 when 2 entrepreneurs - Sameer Mehta and Aman Gupta decided to enter a market that was dominated by the likes of JBL and Bose. Why?
You see, these brands were quite expensive. So boAt wanted to bring affordable, yet fashionable audio products for the millennials.
And so, boAt started floating with a capital of Rs. 30,00,000 that was brought in by the founders. For 2 years, it thrived. But, in order to transform into a sturdy ship, capable of weathering rough storms of the business world, the tiny boAt needed more.
Fireside Ventures came to its rescue, investing ~$ 0.9 million in 2018.
As of today, boAt has raised a total of $116.3 million in funding over 6 rounds. Their latest round was in April 2021.
BoAt’s voyage
Remember the good old days, when you used to get a nicely wrapped pair of earphones every time you purchased a new phone?
But, in the name of cost-cutting (or making a new revenue stream altogether), some phone companies have removed the earphone jack. Instead, they introduced those tiny little buds that can do everything that earphones were capable of. And well, of course, you need to purchase them separately!
You know which company we are talking about. Well, not everyone in our country can buy an airpod, right?
But, what everyone cannot have, everyone wants to have.
And, this is the opportunity that boAt jumped in to capitalize. It launched a wide range of wireless or Bluetooth earphones, at affordable prices.
boAt Lifestyle’s revenue has been an upward stream for the past 4 years:
2020 brought in a huge tsunami in which even some large vessels were capsized. But, not this boAt.
The pandemic only acted as a catalyst for this young company. In 2019, boAt was expecting revenues to shoot up to Rs 500 crores over the next 5-years. But thanks to the pandemic, it crossed the Rs 700 crore mark in the very next year. Thanks to our shift to work from home, the demand for electronic products, such as earphones, power banks, etc. increased sharply and boosted boAt’s profits all the more. By the end of FY24, it is expecting its sales to go up to Rs 1000 crores, which is not a far-sighted dream, given its historic figures. To further this dream, boAt also acquired TAGG, a startup in the same field, in June 2021 at an undisclosed price.
The pandemic also gave boAt another lesson. The lesson to strengthen its supply chains so that it’s better equipped to deal with uncontrollable contingencies.
Until FY20, boAt was sourcing most of its stock from China, but now it aims to localise its production in India. The company has announced its partnership with Dixon for the production of wireless speakers.
Well, many companies are selling these products. How does boAt stand out?
The major factor for boAt’s exponential growth is the price range at which it offers its products, along with its durability. The company has been good at improvisations since its inception.
It quickly reacts to opportunities in the market, and hence the success. Also, boAt tries to portray itself as a lifestyle brand. It calls its users “boAtheads”, which, according to reports, gives the users a feeling of belongingness and makes them a part of a clan. The company has over 2 million 'boAtheads', and it sells between 14,000-15,000 units every day.
boAt has been very clear about its target customers and therefore, it brings in the right brand ambassadors every time. It’s targeting the millennials and who better than Kartik Aryan, Kiara Advani, KL Rahul, Shikhar Dhawan, Jasprit Bumrah, Rishabh Pant, and Prithvi Shaw to influence their target?
Now, now. It looks like boAt is making just about the right strokes in the waters. But, will this boAt reach the shore it is expecting to, or is there going to be turbulence in its way?
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