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Music systems are not portable! Hence, we all want such devices that can easily be carried with us while travelling. This is the idea that gave rise to headphones and earphones as a portable alternative to traditional music systems. These devices can easily be carried from one place to another, thereby offering the same feel as the speakers and music systems.
With the emergence of headphones, music lovers, listeners of music, and other professionals can now listen to their favourite tracks, watch the movies of their choice, and talk with their office colleagues, managers, and friends without disturbing others. Though the headphones are being used for quite some time in India, just like they are used in any other part of the world, only a handful of Indian manufacturers can be spotted. boAt company is one of the leading players among them, and the brand simply steals the show!
The boAt has got an astonishing collection of earphones, earbuds, headphones, and wireless speakers that stands apart due to the quality, affordability, and world-class designs that the company offers. Founded in 2016, boAt is hailed as India's no. 1 earwear audio brand. The company allows users to experience both spirit and energy at the same time.
boAt has been dubbed as the 5th largest wearables brand globally since December 2020.
If you are looking to have a glimpse of the success story of boAt, then StartupTalky has brought you all about boAt, its Business model, Revenue model, Startup story, Funding, Founders and team, Investors, Growth, Competitors, Future Plans, and more.
boAt - Company Highlights
| Startup Name | boAt Lifestyle |
|---|---|
| Headquarters | New Delhi, India |
| Sector | Consumer Electronics |
| Founders | Sameer Mehta, Aman Gupta |
| Founded | 2016 |
| Total Funding Raised | $177 million (October 2022) |
| Revenue | $362.6 million (INR 3,000 crore, FY22) |
| Valuation | $266.8 million (INR 2,200 crore, April 2021) |
| Website | boat-lifestyle.com |
boAt - About
boAt - Startup Story
boAt - Founders and Team
boAt - Name, Tagline, and Logo
boAt - Business and Revenue Model
boAt - Funding and Investors
boAt - Growth and Revenue
boAt - Challenges
boAt - Acquisitions
boAt - Awards and Recognitions
boAt - Competitors
boAt - Future Plans
boAt - About
boAt is an Indian company that markets audio-focused electronic gadgets like wireless speakers, earbuds (Airdopes), wired and wireless headphones and earphones, home audio equipment, premium rugged cables, and a selection of other technological accessories.
boAt - Startup Story
The founders wanted to create a lifestyle brand, which would bring fashionable audio products and accessories to the millennials. boAt is the brainchild of this idea. The company began its journey as a cable manufacturer and seller, which had rapidly expanded its categories to serve over 800,000 customers, as reported in 2020. boAt started as a bootstrapped startup with a capital of around Rs 30 lakhs that came from the founders.
boAt - Founders and Team
Sameer Mehta and Aman Gupta are the founders of boAt.
Sameer Mehta
Sameer Mehta is the co-founder and Chief Product Officer (CPO) of boAt. He is also the Executive Director of Kores (India). Sameer Mehta started his career at Redwood Interactive and was the owner of the company. Mehta completed his schooling at St. Xavier School, Mumbai, and pursued his bachelor's degree in Commerce from Narsee Monjee College of Commerce and Economics. Sameer also co-founded Imagine Marketing Pvt. Ltd, the parent company of boAt.
Aman Gupta
Aman Gupta is the co-founder and the Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) of boAt. He pursued his bachelor's degree in Commerce from Delhi University, after which he joined The Institute of Chartered Accountants of India. Gupta also pursued an MBA in Finance, and Strategy at the Indian School of Business and also pursued an MBA in General Management and Marketing as an Exchange student at the Kellogg School of Management from Northwestern University.
He started working as an Assistant Manager at Citibank and later worked as the co-founder and CEO of Advanced Telemedia Pvt Ltd. Aman then joined KPMG as a Senior Management Consultant. He also worked as a Sales Director at HARMAN International. Aman Gupta ultimately co-founded boAt in 2016 with Sameer. He also co-founded Imagine Marketing India, which became the parent company of boAt.
boAt's employee strength is somewhere between 200-500 employees.
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The majority of the boAt stakes are held by Warburg Pincus, which boasts of holding 36.48% of the company's shares. The boAt co-founders Aman Gupta and Sameer Mehta come next in line with 28.26% shares each. Then, comes Fireside Ventures with 3.76% of the shares, followed by Qualcomm Ventures, which has 2.6% stakes. The remaining 0.64% of the boAt's stake is held by others.
boAt - Name, Tagline, and Logo
The tagline of the boAt company is, 'plug into nirvana'. Nirvana means attaining complete peace and freedom, which the company aims to extend to the audiophiles of the country and other users.
boAt - Business and Revenue Model
The company focused on 3 important market strategies to create a good consumer base:
- Consumer's Needs
- Consumer's Desires
- Consumer's Behaviour Pattern
The founders implemented their research on the products and made the products affordable, durable, and fashionable. boAt focuses on building a customer-brand relationship where it considers the buyers as a member of the boAt family. They also focused a lot on the brand boAt and presented it as an Indian brand. For the marketing of the brand, boAt decided to appoint cricketers and other celebrities as the brand ambassadors of boAt because the Indians are very fond of cricket and Bollywood films. All of these helped the company create a considerable consumer base and become a billion-dollar company in India with smart pricing and attractive looks. boAt now claims of selling 6,000 units per day with four units sold every minute.
Some other strategies that helped boAt climb the ladder of success in the audio segment of the Indian market are:
Keeping the customers first - boAt has decided to term its users "boatheads", thereby making them a part of their clan instead of keeping them anonymous.
A range of improvisations - boAt is known for its innovations and improvisations. The company carved out an indestructible cable for Apple mobile users after discovering endless complaints about Apple charging cables. As soon as it sensed the urgency of sports and fall-proof headphones, boAt immediately moved out to build them, which are now available in a variety of colours.
Posing as a lifestyle brand - boAt marked itself as a lifestyle brand rather than calling itself a consumer electronics brand.
An ever-expanding catalogue of products - boAt products are ever-increasing. From cables to chargers to audio products, boAt is simply bringing new products powered by innovative technologies and awesome designs.
Targeting their customers - The youth and millennials are the target customers of the brand and the company is making sure to impress them at any cost. This is the way the company is speedily steering forth.
Digital marketing - The company has distinctively stayed away from traditional media, thereby choosing the digital way for marketing. Social media platforms like Instagram and others have solely become the pillars of success for boAt.
boAt revenue mainly comes through the sale of its products and their delivery charges.
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boAt - Funding and Investors
boAt has raised a total amount of $177 million in funding over 7 funding rounds.
| Date | Transaction Name | Money Raised | Lead Investor |
|---|---|---|---|
| October 28, 2022 | Convertible Note - boAt | $60 million | - |
| April 16, 2021 | Series B | $6.68 million | Qualcomm Ventures |
| January 5, 2021 | Series B | $100 million | Warburg Pincus |
| September 1, 2020 | Debt Financing | $3.34 million | InnoVen Capital |
| July 26, 2019 | Debt Financing | $2.13 million | InnoVen Capital |
| July 17, 2019 | Debt Financing | $2.67 million | Navi Technologies |
| May 3, 2018 | Venture Round | $802K | Fireside Ventures |
boAt IPO
boAt eyed IPO early in 2022. boAt became the first Indian D2C brand to file for a Rs 2,000 crore IPO, and it planned to file its DRHP with SEBI in the last week of January 2022, as per the reports dated January 18, 2022.
The Aman Gupta-led brand has received the SEBI nod for its Rs 2,000 crore IPO, as per reports dated May 18, 2022. It also revealed that the fresh issue of shares in the IPO would be worth up to Rs 900 crore while the offer for sale would be worth up to Rs 1,100 crore, as per its DRHP. Both Aman Gupta and Sameer Mehta, the founders of boAt, would be selling shares worth up to Rs 150 crore each in the OFS, while Warburg Pincus, the largest shareholder in the company, holds 36.48% stakes in the company through its affiliate South Lake Investments, would be selling shares worth up to Rs 800 crore.
However, due to ongoing concerns about the volatile stock market, boAt postponed its planned public share sale and instead raised INR 500 crore ($60 million) from private investors.
boAt - Growth and Revenue
The company retails at Croma outlets, Myntra, Amazon, Jabong, and Flipkart. The quality performance of boAt products has helped the company a lot in achieving the growth it has witnessed over the years.
Here's a quick glance at some growth milestones of boAt:
- boAt has gathered 800,000+ customers within a short span of 4 years.
- It claims to add one boAthead to its family within every 3 minutes that pass
- The company sells 4 units every minute and over 6,000 units each day.
- boAt audio was declared the leading brand in the earwear category, with 27.3% of the market shares.
- The business has been profitable for 5+ years straight.
boAt company registered a revenue of Rs 1,548 during the H1 FY22. As per the latest data, boAt has registered a revenue of Rs 3,000 crore in FY22, an increase of 100% year over year.
The revenue from operations of boAT was recorded at Rs 1511.7 crore in FY21 while its other income recorded a revenue of Rs 19.57 crore. The EBIDTA of boAT was reported to be Rs 127.1 crore during FY21.
If we break up boAT revenue (FY21), we would find that the company:
- Earned Rs 947.35 crore from the sale of earphones and headphones.
- Mopped up Rs 297.40 crore from the sale of wireless speakers.
- Earned Rs 94.92 crore from the sale of wired earphones and headphones.
- It further obtained revenues close to Rs 172.03 crore from the sale of other accessories including cables, chargers, and more.
boAt increased its profits by 61% to Rs 78.6 crore in FY21 from Rs 48.85 crore, which is witnessed in FY20. However, boAt's expenditure ballooned 122%. It was last recorded at Rs 637.5 crore in FY20, which increased to Rs 1,420 crore in FY21.
boAt - Challenges
boAt started as a bootstrapped company in the initial years with funding of around Rs 30 lakh from the founders and had to struggle initially for raising funds. Apart from this, the company faces numerous challenges day in and day out in manufacturing trendy products at affordable rates and bringing them to the market that is already packed with equally able competitors.
boAt - Acquisitions
boAt has acquired 2 companies - Tagg and KaHa Pte (Cove IoT). The latter is the most recent acquisition made by the company on January 15, 2022. The acquisition of the Singapore-based smart wearables IoT (internet-of-things) product development startup will help Boat enhance the development of its wearables with the help of KaHa Pte Ltd's (Cove IoT) innovative concepts and design.
| Acquiree Name | Date | Price |
|---|---|---|
| KaHa Pte | January 15, 2022 | - |
| TAGG | June 9, 2021 | - |
boAt - Awards and Recognitions
boAt was awarded and recognized on numerous occasions by a list of organizations, here's a look at some of the most prominent awards and recognition of the brand:
- The company was declared the "Number 1 brand for truly wireless and earwear in India" as per Q3 CY21.
- It was noted as the "5th largest wearable brand in the world in 2020".
- boAt boasts of being the official audio partner for 6 Indian Premier League (IPL) teams in 2021.
- It has partnered with a wide range of celebrities and cricketers from Hardik Pandya to Diljit Dosanjh and Kiara Advani.
boAt - Competitors
The top competitors of the Boat are Noise, Mivi, and Skullcandy.
Noise
Gonoise is one of the biggest rivals of boAt. It is headquartered in Gurugram, Haryana, India and was founded in 2014. Noise competes in the electronic equipment industry.
Mivi
Mivi is another rival of boAt. It is headquartered in Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, India and was founded in 2015. Mivi also operates in the electronic equipment industry.
Skullcandy
Skullcandy is also one of the top competitors of Boat. It is headquartered in Park City, Utah and was founded in 2003. Skullcandy also works in the electronics industry.
Apart from these, there are certain other competitors of boAt like pTron, Boult Audio, and Ambrane.
boAt - Future Plans
The company believes that there is always a trend of buying earphones along with new smartphones. boAt finds this concept to be a channel of success for them. According to the reports, the major phone makers are in the process of stitching new relations with audio companies. For example - Samsung has got JBL and Harman, Apple has Beats, and so on. These manufacturers are attracting consumers with hot deals so that the users don't buy earphones or headphones separately.
'That is where the market is moving', says Aman Gupta.
Video consumption would be a demand driver in the coming future.
boAt is currently aiming to provide more and more products to satisfy the increasingly high demand for technological gadgets and bring them at affordable rates to its users with style! The brand wants to help the Indians get all the quality technological devices that they need from the homegrown brand boAt, without letting them rely on other foreign brands.
FAQs
What is boAt?
boAt is an Indian startup that manufactures and distributes electronic gadgets. boAt is founded by Aman Gupta and Sameer Mehta and is hailed as one of India's favourite audio and wearable brands today,
When did boAt Company start?
The boAt company was started in 2016 by Sameer Mehta and Aman Gupta.
Who are the founders of boAt?
The founders of the boAt are Sameer Mehta and Aman Gupta.
What is boAt's revenue?
As per the latest data, boAt has registered a revenue of INR 3,000 crore in FY22, an increase of 100% year over year.
How much funding has been raised by boAt?
boAt Lifestyle has successfully raised $177 million in funding over 7 funding rounds, as of October 28, 2022.
Is boAt an Indian company?
boAt is an Indian Company. It is headquartered in New Delhi, India
How much is boAt's valuation?
boAt's valuation is around Rs 2200 crore, as of April 16, 2021.
How are boat headphones?
According to most reviews, boAt headphones are decent in quality, amazing in design and looks, and pocket-friendly too. boAt is building its brand image and credibility through these qualities that the branch wields.
