start-ups that hit the jackpot

The mobile phone and internet boom has provided the perfect platform for a plethora of Indian start-ups & entrepreneurships to flourish. From selling low-cost handsets to developing apps suited to Indian needs, many Indian start-ups have hit a jackpot in recent years.
The latest in news is Little Eye Labs which has been acquired by Facebook. We profile five start-ups that have benefited from the mobile phone boom: 



 

Ajjay Agarwal's Maxx Mobile 

When Agarwal was 15 years old, he dropped out of school to join his father's electronic trading business in Mumbai. He launched his own company in January 2002. 

Agarwal began with a seed capital of Rs 10 lakh(about US$22,000), which came from his savings. The first step was to have his proprietorship firm registered in the name of Max Mobiles and Phone Accessories; it was only in 2004 that he set up Maxx Mobile as a company. Initially, he would stamp my brand name on imported mobile phone batteries and sell them to dealers in Mumbai.  

At the beginning of 2004, he figured that he should set up his own manufacturing unit for mobile phone batteries. The next obvious move was to expand the operations. 

The next crucial year was 2008, when he started importing mobile phones and selling them under the brand name Maxx Mobile. In 2009, he signed on M S Dhoni as the brand ambassador and the advertising campaign during the T20 World Cup helped get eyeballs. Next on the cards is the manufacturing of Android mobile phones.