"The Platform Is Appropriate For Even The Smallest Companies" Co-Founder and COO, Instamojo

In an interaction with Urvi Shrivastav, editorial lead, BW BFSI, BW Busienssworld, Akash Gehani, Co founder and COO, Instamojo, speaks about the digitisation of MSMEs/SMBs, latest technology in this domain, and how they are making a dent in this space.

There are many digital platforms today for MSMEs/SMBs. How is Instamojo different, and how is it enabling the digitization of SMBs in India?

Our products and features are built to give every business the complete ecommerce experience. We are one of the first providers to build a Do-It-Yourself (DIY) SaaS platform for MSMEs in India. Instamojo helps simplify the process of taking an offline business to the digital format. The platform is appropriate for even the smallest companies because we extensively provide merchants with the following:

- The resources needed to create and maintain a company website and achieve digital independence.

- Integrated services, such as digital payments, logistics, fast pay-outs, access to credit, marketing tools, customer relationship management (CRM), and Mojoversity, a free learning platform, among others.

- The Do it for Me (DIFM) feature where Instamojo’s tech experts take charge of building a merchant’s website to provide a hassle free experience.

We provide entrepreneurs and DTC firms a fully-loaded ecommerce website with everything covered, from order management to marketing tools, SEO to analytics, and reseller networks. To further guarantee that businesses hosted on our platform are entirely safe, we also offer secure web hosting and payment options, PCI-DSS certified payments, SSL certified websites, and more.

How many merchants are currently present on the Instamojo platform?

More than 2million merchants are currently present in Instamojo. The merchants are from pan India, and also across sectors however, the top performing sectors are Apparel and footwear, health and wellness, education, travel.

Highlight a merchant success story from a T2/3 market.

Anahat Music Therapy based out of Pune, operates at the crossroads of music and health, promoting well-being with the healing powers of music. It is founded by Santosh Ghatpande, an IT professional, to positively influence the areas of health and well-being through music. It helps people use music to relieve all kinds of maladies. Anahat music therapy also provides certified training to learners to become music therapists. To accelerate lead generation, Santhosh took his business online. With the help of Instamojo, Santhosh was able to get more sign-ups for his sessions. The path to successful online entrepreneurship was made easier for Anahat through Instamojo. Instamojo Smart Page was used to create a landing page for registrations, for online therapy sessions. With the help of Instamojo, he was able to offer his clients a smooth online experience and it’s easy to use feature helped him to get more leads.

What are the latest technologies (eg AI, ML) that Instamojo is using on its platform?

We employ machine learning to qualify new leads for improved engagement with our onboarding teams and to precisely target users for advertising. Additionally, machine learning algorithms are utilized to anticipate risky behavior and lessen the likelihood of conflicts amongst businesses who accept payments through Instamojo.

What is Mojoversity about? Why was it launched?

The first learning platform in India for future-focused enterprises and SMEs is called Mojoversity. It is specifically designed for startups and MSMEs. On Mojoversity, you can find brief, engaging video courses made by professionals on everything you need to know to launch an internet business. Any topic, including digital marketing, social media, finances, taxation, business legislation, and many more, can be found in a video course. One can test their understanding of a course with short multiple-choice quizzes on Mojoversity, and then unlock and download their validated certificates. It also enables learners to complete a lesson in under an hour while on the go with any device. Mojoversity offers entrepreneurs free access to classroom-style learning opportunities, including practical experience and understanding of current market trends.

What are your future plans?

We plan to expand the capabilities of e-commerce store builder and landing page builder significantly, adding options for deep customization, more integrations and easier set up. With these, we plan to make the product accessible to millions of micro and small businesses who want to start their online brand presence and unlock new monetization opportunities.