This startup is acting as an aggregator of the best online service providers – Weblistr

October 7, 2016

After the internet boom, online businesses and startup culture has seen a phenomenal rate of increase in India. Name anything, it’s definitely available online. However, this rapid increase in online stores has had some adverse effects. One of the biggest problems customers face now is the limited knowledge of where to get what online. Addressing this particular pain point two young graduates came up with the idea of Weblistr.

What is Weblistr?

Weblistr is a unique and one of its kind startup that provides general users with a platform that aggregates useful information from several e-commerce websites and apps. This platform aggregates information of more than 20 categories including fashion, travel, home decor, food delivery, healthcare, jobs, education, etc. Weblistr’s main purpose is to guide and help users to find the most suitable and trustworthy online businesses for their respective product/service needs.

What sparked this initiative?

It all started when Rashika Jain was trying to send a gift to one of her fellow mates, Karthik K Bhandary for his birthday. The main trouble Rashika had was to find a trustworthy website that would deliver the gift to Kuwait, as Karthik resided there. As the proverb goes, “Necessity is the mother of invention.” When she couldn’t find a trustworthy website an idea crossed her mind. There are hundreds of online startups coming up each and every day, however most users are unaware of these startups.

To work on this particular idea, Rashika, a BTech from PES Institute of Technology and a gold medalist from Great Lakes Institute of Management quit her job at Bharti Airtel and Karthik who was born and brought up in Kuwait and completed his engineering from Manipal Institute of Technology and an MBA from Great Lakes Institute of Management quit his job in Kuwait and moved to India. The two of them started together towards a journey to simplify online shopping for users.

Your aim and motivation?

Weblistr’s main aim is to connect users to the most relevant online business that will fulfill their needs in the best possible manner. Weblistr believes in niches, they want to broaden the horizon for every user. It wants to help users to expand their domain from a handful of websites to all possible and suitable websites available.

“We saw the gap in the market. Today everything is available online but people are unaware of the websites which can cater their needs. Even if they know, people are hesitant to try a new website because they are unassured if they can rely on it.” says Rashika. This particular problem motivated Rashika and Karthik to work in this field and find the ultimate solution to this problem.

Journey so Far

Weblistr commenced as a work from home project with just 1 intern. It was launched on 9^th July, 2016 and it currently is a 10-member team or rather family. Their team is a young and enthusiastic one with average age less than 24! In less than 3 months Weblistr already has 1,000+ reviews from over 2,500 registered users on its platform. It has over 22k likes on Facebook and about 1.2k followers on Twitter.

They started off with their blog in December, 2015 and have already published over 350 unique publications. Their publications provide users with websites/app recommendations, app reviews, startup news, etc. Weblistr is actively engaging a lot of users through its blog as well as website and hence the numbers are growing exponentially.

It has also shared the startup stories of over 60 online businesses through its platform and blog. Weblistr is also a Nasscom 10k startup with its office in Kolkata.

What gives Weblistr the edge over others?

The most important point that gives Weblistr an edge over others is that its India’s first and only e-commerce aggregator. As of now they have no competitor in the market. They are the only ones and thus have a very good chance to establish their dominance in this particular domain.

In today’s review eccentric world where reviews and ratings are the tools users use to make any purchase decision, restaurant selection, home decor, movie selection, etc. Weblistr is using this tool as an asset. They provide users with a platform to share their experience with the online startups in their platform by rating and reviewing them. With this initiative, Weblistr is helping other users to make an informed choice while selecting any service/product. This in turn makes the user more comfortable to try out new websites out of their usual domain.

Currently a bootstrap startup, Weblistr is planning to expand its offices in Bangalore and Delhi. You can visit their website here.