Bizongo is a B2B e-commerce marketplace catering to the large Packaging, Paints, Plastics and Chemical industry across India. Bizongo boasts of 2000+ products across verticals like Rigid and Flexible Packaging, Paints, Plastics goods and Raw materials, and Construction Chemicals. The company was launched in November of 2014. “However, we spent a considerable amount of time conducting extensive market research before going live in April 2015. Our background study helped us conclude that about 70% of the chemical and plastic OEMs, manufacturers and traders were based out of Gujarat and Maharashtra. Being based out of Mumbai, we saw a great opportunity to tap this $170 Billion market which is fairly untouched” says Mr. Aniket Deb,Co founder-Bizongo.
Who are the Founders?
Founders while still in their brainstorming and study phase noticed that the $400 Billion Indian B2B sector is fragmented. To understand a local trader’s daily problems, they adopted a feet-on-street approach. This helped founders understand that logistics, sales and marketing prevented local traders from reaching the enormous buyer base out there and hindered the growth of various SMEs in our country. This inspired them to launch Bizongo. The company was Co-Founded by Aniket Deb , Sachin Agarwal and Ankit Tomer.
Aniket Deb, an IIT Bombay alumni, the go-to person for all client related issues, worked as a consultant for Opera Solutions before shifting to Housing.com. This gave him an opportunity to learn both from a consulting firm and a growing startup.
Sachin Agarwal, an IIT Bombay alumni, the financial guru at Bizongo, gained his acumen at a financial technology firm, Gravitas, where he worked as a Risk Manager. He aspires to remove the problem of Late Payments from the B2B ecosystem.
Ankit Tomar, an IIT Delhi alumni, is the technical mastermind behind the Bizongo portal, worked for Microsoft and was involved in developing the Android version of Microsoft’s flagship product MS Excel.
All three Co-Founders are innovators and risk takers looking to revolutionize the B2B market! Well! They already are- Bizongo now provide traders with technological tools to trade with a buyer sitting anywhere in India. They are in the process of bringing not just industry giants but also various SMEs online.
How is Bizongo different?
Bizongo provides suppliers with technological tools to expand their reach. On other B2B e-commerce websites, inefficient product specifications and filtering processes often result in misdirected product leads, leading to inconvenience among suppliers. To tackle this, Bizongo has developed an advanced search algorithm. The website has intensively segregated products into relevant categories provided with picture reference for easy browsing for consumers and relevant leads for suppliers. Bizongo’s seamless chat platform and quotation generator can now help buyers interact with verified suppliers and negotiate with them on the go. Bizongo has also launched direct sell facility which will now allow both industrial and non industrial customers to order products in retail quantities allowing them to test out samples. They also provide free shipping across the country and strive to make trade easy for their buyers and listed suppliers.
A few of Bizongo direct competitors include companies like Tolexo.com which is an IndiaMART subsidiary and startups like IndustryBuying.com. Industrial machinery and hardware tools are main areas of concentration of competitors. Bizongo, on the other hand, is focusing mainly on plastics, packaging material and chemicals. “Our company provides a platform for buyers and sellers to negotiate on pricing through our quotation generator. This makes sending and receiving quotations exponentially easy for both parties and reduces the time and effort to be invested. We are here to make trade easy and that is exactly what we are delivering” Aniket explains.
Is Bizongo’s ‘Business On Go’?
Since its launch in April 2015, their webpage has been able to generate high value orders and 500+ hits daily.
Bizongo is a growing team of 31 individuals from diverse backgrounds working towards the common goal of empowering Indian businesses with technology and help their businesses expand. They are currently charging a commission on transactions made through their secure payment gateway. They recently crossed a GMV of INR 7 Lakhs in a window of just two months and the team is ecstatic about it!
The company has undergone tremendous growth in a very short span of time. However, they are posed with challenges too before they can celebrate any moment of accomplishment. One of the most critical challenges they had to encounter was getting suppliers on board at a steady pace. Bizongo follows a feet-on-street approach to procure clean and sanitized data from the suppliers as they want to reach the crux of their problems. This method is tedious but very rewarding at the same time. To resolve, the company has started to send well designed and easy to understand mailers to all the suppliers in their database, inviting suppliers to register with them for free and receive relevant leads on the go. “Just like we promise”.
“Nevertheless, We have always been ready to learn from our everyday experiences and absorb as much as we can though this exciting journey of ours” Aniket sighs. When Bizongo’s web platform went live in April, they assessed the demand being received. This led to the launch of their powerful quotation generator and chat platform to cater to the bulk orders as it eased the negotiation process. They set up a third-party secure payment gateway for small and medium-sized orders, further providing free logistics support through third-party logistics providers. This approach was adopted through experiences gained whilst setting up the business and the team is sure it will help Bizongo scale heights!
Bizongo raised its angel round of funding a few months ago from seasoned investors who are entrepreneurs themselves. “We are on the verge of closing our seed round of funding soon. This will help us expand our team, exploit the ever evolving technology and serve our customers better” says Aniket.
In the coming months, Bizongo plans to establish the brand Bizongo as the numero uno B2B marketplace and the go-to e-Commerce website for all trade in the Plastics, Packaging and Chemicals industry. They are working towards grabbing a substantial market share and getting seasoned traders on board. Bizongo is already on mission to get businesses online and revolutionize the B2B sector in India!
