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For residents of Pune finding a plumber or a locksmith or carpenter is just a tap away on their phone. Pune-based start-up Prominds Mobitech today announced the launch of MYSearch, a mobile telephone directory for the city.
The company founded one-and-a-half-year back by Rajeev Manjrekar, former banker and Ranjeet Jena plans to launch this service in seven to eight cities in India this financial year.
The company so far has about 70,000 business listings across seven to eight cities. In Pune alone they have 20,000 listings. MYSearch is a mobile app that can be downloaded from Google Play and is available for free for mobile users.
“MYSearch has a huge list of all organized and unorganized businesses / services. Right from very prominent landmarks of the city to the smaller and lesser known identities, with ratings and reviews, the app knows it all! At present, we have launched this app in Pune and Hyderabad and we are all set to launch in 8 other cities, over the next few months,” said Rajeev Manjrekar, co-founder and director, Prominds Mobitech.
In the first week since its launch (soft launch was done on June 4), the app has been downloaded over 500 times. According to the company, since the user interface of the application was changed, Google Play does not take into account the older user base. In the beta version the app has been downloaded 30,000 times.
Manjrekar believes that MYSearch is different from what is available in the market today. “We cannot be compared to Just Dial. The way we operate is different. We are a pure mobile app player which is brings you a listing of local businesses closer to you. Just Dial on the other hand has call centres across India,” said he.
Prominds is also targeting the bottom-end of the businesses who cannot get access to listing services due to higher fees. “At Rs 1,000 as annual subscription, our charges are very affordable for the bottom and mid-level market. We are getting really good response for the same too,” he added. Of the 20,000 listings almost 30 per cent are paid subscriptions.
The revenue model is based on subscriptions and going ahead the company may also explore options like data analytics and advertisement panels. “We have a franchise model in place. And prefer to have upto 10 franchise per city,” said Manjrekar.
After Pune, MYSearch will be available for users in Hyderabad and by the end of this financial year, the company plans to have presence in cities of Bangalore, Vishakhapatnam, Baroda, Nashik and Ahmedabad.
“The expansion will also depend on our ability to raise funds. We are planning to raise about $2 million by the end of July this year and we are in talks with venture capital player,” added Manjrekar. So far the company has been bootstrapped with the initial investment of Rs 2 crore coming from promoters, family and friends.
“We will provide only verified listings in the app, so that users are assured that all content is genuine. It will be easy to filter information based on the ratings and geographical proximity. Our immediate focus is on building the user base, enhancing the experience and ecosystem of MYSearch. We will be adding newer features to the app on a regular basis. The vision of Prominds Mobitech is to make MYSearch, one of the best mobile app brands and expand our network to other cities,” said Ranjeet Jena, Co-Founder and Director, Prominds Mobitech.
