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Vowelor Success Story
Back in time, when reading books and gaining knowledge was a combination of hobbies and interests, a library was the place where all could gather and read in the vibe.
Nowadays where reading is more of a necessity, there are ecosystems that you can access virtually to read books, share reviews and ask questions from right where you are to almost around the world. One such app is Vowelor!
Founded by Mr. Lalit Sharma and Mr. Manik Ghawri in the year 2017, Vowelor is a platform where you can meet like-minded readers and interested people and share your interest in book reading in an innovative way.
Available on the website and mobile applications, Vowelor brings innovation into this industry by gathering readers, writers, and publishers all under one roof and engaging them with one another as well as sharing their experiences on reading, writing and books. Thus solving problems that were faced by each of them.
Vowelor - Company Highlights
- Startup Name-Vowelor
- Headquarter-New Delhi
- Founders-Mr. Lalit Sharma and Mr. Manik Ghawri
- Founded-November 2018
- Website-vowelor.com
Vowelor - About and How it Works
"What Should I Read Next" is the most common problem that readers have since the day they finished reading their first book. Vowelor is all about problems and solutions like these.
With the Vowelor app, you can now find the book that you should read next in a whole new way! Vowelor app's Find Next Read feature recommends your books according to your current mood.
On the Vowelor application, readers can also create a library of books that they are currently reading, have already read, and want to read in the future. Based on these libraries or lists, users get to interact with others and discuss books with them in real-time using live chat. Vowelor does this using its AI-based algorithm.
Solving the problem of 'Why read alone?', Vowelor provides readers and writers with a platform to connect and solve their problem of finding the next read. Vowelor has more than 90,000 readers and more than 10,000 writers on its platform currently. Most users are between the ages of 18 and 30 years, and 56 percent of them are women.
Vowelor - Industry
India is the world's 6th largest book publishing nation and 2nd largest in the English language. And, the Indian publishing industry is set to be worth INR 730 billion. But, no platform focused on reducing the bottlenecks that authors and readers face. India's publishing industry is in dire need of this evolution and Vowelor has the potential to do it.
Vowelor - Startup Story
This brilliant idea struck the founders after they wrote a book and soon realized that there was no platform for readers where the book could be showcased. That's exactly when they got the idea of starting a Facebook group where readers and writers can interact with each other.
As the book community grew, the co-founders analyzed that users were facing several problems that were quite common like readers' struggling to find the next book to read while authors facing hurdles in book promotion.
Vowelor - Founders and Team
Manik Ghawri and Lalit Sharma, founders of Vowelor were school friends and shared the same enthusiasm for innovation and creativity.
Manik is an engineer and a tech geek. He has previously worked as a Java developer at CSC.
Lalit's forte, on the other hand, is digital and content marketing. He has been an Associate Editor with the student guidance portal Aglasem, and a content developer at the career resource platform JagranJosh. In the past, he has worked closely with authors and was also working as a digital and content marketing professional before starting Vowelor.
Their love for reading and forming a community around the hobby pushed Manik and Lalit to start Vowelor as a Facebook page, and a Facebook community in 2016. A year later, the two platforms combined had more than 80,000 members from across the world. Overwhelmed by the numbers, the two of them quit their jobs and founded Vowelor Books & Media in 2017.
Vowelor - Name, Tagline and Logo
The name "Vowelor" is derived from the word ‘VOWELS' which are the building blocks of English literature. No book will ever be written without VOWELS. And similarly, they aimed to complete the bookish world; hence they named it – VOWELOR."
Vowelor - Business Model and Revenue Model
The primary revenue comes from helping and promoting authors to reach the maximum number of readers. This is done by utilizing the community and organic reach from the website. And in the coming days, they are planning to automate the entire process via Vowelor App.
Moreover, in the near future, Vowelor intends to collaborate with publishers and book stores opening new revenue streams as well as bringing the much-needed change in the books industry in India which is estimated to be worth Rs 739 Billion by 2020.
Vowelor - Challenges Faced
There are no doubt startups face the most challenges in the initial days. With Vowelor, the biggest challenge is to keep the platforms (App as well as a website) working effortlessly at all times so that users do not face any challenges. And, the founders succeed in doing so because of the continuous efforts in development.
Also, with constant improvements in technology, it is difficult to keep users glued and fulfill what they require on the platform. That's why Vowelor has put a major chunk of its budget on development and research.
Another challenge for the company was securing funds at an early stage but the guidance of the fellow co-founder Mr. Himanshu Gandhi helped them achieve their first funding.
Vowelor - Competitors
In the market so dynamic and versatile, other players also have come up with applications and concepts like this. Some of the major ones are Goodreads, We Read Too, Scribd. However, all of these apps have different and unique USPs but they still cater to the same book-loving audience.
Vowelor - Funding and Investors
Voweler has raised Rs 1 crore ($140,000) in the Pre-Series A round from Dr. Sanjeev Juneja in June of 2019. The company would use the funding to develop and market an automated tool in the form of a mobile application that will help authors with limited budgets promote their books and engage with readers in India and abroad.
Juneja is an entrepreneur in the fast-moving consumer goods sector and is known mainly for selling the Kesh King hair oil brand to Emami Ltd in 2015 at an enterprise valuation of 1651 crores. He is also behind brands such as Dr. Ortho, Roop Mantra and Pet Saffa.
Vowelor - Growth
Starting as just a website, today, Vowelor is a growing community of 90,000+ readers. These readers & authors interact regularly with Vowelor on various platforms including Facebook Group, Page, Twitter, Instagram and the Vowelor’s website itself.
Since the release of the app, the response has been overwhelming and the app has crossed 5000+ downloads on the play store. Also, users have created close to 150 book clubs and have added more than 12000+ books in their Vowelor libraries.
The users are engaging with the app and have created book clubs, as specific as ‘Potterhead' and as broad as ‘Readathon: one book per week'. On the other hand, Vowelor Website traffic has increased by 135% in the last 2 months. And the company have launched the Vowelor Author Program on the website.
Vowelor - Future Plans
In the coming years, the founders plan to turn Vowelor into one of its kind platform for authors, readers, publishers, and bookstores and remove the bottlenecks that they currently face. The company is targeting over 1.50 lakh downloads and two lakh monthly website hits by 2019.
While other startups in this domain are into buying and selling books and subscriptions, Vowelor is entirely focusing on the community aspect where users can have meaningful conversations around books in real-time. The company's short-term goals include launching the iOS version of the Vowelor books app and expanding its reader community. Soon, they will also partner with Bookstores and Publishers to take the Vowelor app to the next level.
FAQs
What is Vowelor
Vowelor is an app that connects book readers, writers, and publishers.
Who is the founder of Vowelor
Manik Ghawri and Lalit Sharma are the founders of Vowelor.
