As according to a recent UNICEF record, approximately 792 Mn humans in India do now not have access to an stepped forward sanitation facility. Of the 792 Mn, girls are the most affected. While in city areas, it may not be the quantity of toilet centers that is the difficulty, there may be a first-rate hassle – access to a easy, public lavatory for a woman. Public bathroom areas are generally unusable and/or dangerous. Poor design, lack of cleanliness and protection, inadequate lighting, and different infrastructural factors additionally lead them to unusable for girls.
On a trip to Jaipur with his friends, again in 2014, Deep Bajaj faced a similar problem. On the manner they made a couple of stops to find a clean toilet for the women, to no avail. While the organization cracked jokes about the reality that guys ought to stand and pee anywhere, it led Deep to investigate on woman urination devices in India. Deep starts, “There have been no alternatives to be had then. We were the first ones to open the class of ‘woman urination tool’ on Amazon and Snapdeal.”
In order to clear up hygiene issues for the millennial generation, Deep, alongside with his brother Mohit Bajaj and friend Rahul Anand came up with the concept of PeeBuddy – India’s first female urination tool.
Women within the usa nevertheless maintain to suffer from loss of clean and friendly bathrooms once they tour lengthy-distance for professional, social, or leisure reasons. These inconveniences get exacerbated at some point of menstruation, medical emergencies, and even inclement weather conditions.
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Using PeeBuddy, ladies can stand and pee even in dirty lavatories, prevent the chance of contracting infections, and journey freely and with out worries. It is likewise useful for the ones ladies affected by arthritis or throughout pregnancy. The three formed the parent agency First Step Digital Pvt. Ltd in 2015, to take on this and other demanding situations.
Talking about the product, Deep Bajaj, founder of PeeBuddy says: “Women have a lot on their plates in recent times. We agree with our products can assist them in taking care of their intimate hygiene and wellness desires in lots of situations, which are not discussed overtly together with loss of friendly lavatories, menstrual pains, sanitary disposal and so forth. Our cause is to assist ladies travel, stay, and perform better.”
The group claims to have sold over 100K bags of PeeBuddy last 12 months. It is now to be had at Airtel Marathon, Standard Chartered Mumbai Marathon and the TCS Bengaluru Marathon and so forth. Gynaecologists also are recommending PeeBuddy to keep away from infections contracted while the usage of public lavatories.
The group also patented the design and entered the Limca Book of Records as India’s first woman urination device, the use of which women can stand and urinate in common toilets.
In a country wherein lady hygiene is still considered a taboo and is frowned upon, the adventure from concept to product wasn’t smooth. As Deep says, “A guy representing the motive of female intimate hygiene did not cross down well with people, to begin with. It become a little hard, however it picked up as soon as medical doctors started suggesting the product and it became to be had in medical stores. I think if the reason is an vital one like ours then those preliminary hiccups have to no longer deter an entrepreneur. ”
“We began with PeeBuddy and feature received a first rate response from women throughout all walks of life. Today pleasant of doctors endorse our product range. There is a huge marketplace potential for us within the intimate hygiene and personal care marketplace with over 90 Mn in ladies in urban areas and over 210 Mn in rural areas,” he adds.
Over time, the group has also brought a whole variety of women’s hygiene and wellness products which include the PeeBuddy & Sirona Range. Currently, it consists of:
Herbal female pain alleviation patches (to avoid taking painkillers throughout period).
Oxo-biodegradable sanitary disposal bags (for clean & hygienic disposal of sanitary products).
Intimate moist wipes.
Applicator tampons.
Underarm sweat pads.
BodyGuard Range which incorporates herbal mosquito patches & bands.
These merchandise are available on ecommerce web sites like Amazon, Flipkart, Nykaa, Purplle, Snapdeal, and so on. They are also available across retail shops in Delhi-NCR like 24×7, LeMarche, Guardian, and NewU.
The startup have been bootstrapped till earlier this year. It these days raised approximately $443K (INR 2.Ninety six Cr) Pre-Series A funding from Indian Angel Network. Sanjay Mehta, Ishan Singh, and Vikas Kuthiala led this round of funding on behalf of Indian Angel Network.
Talking approximately the funding, Sanjay Mehta, IAN lead investor said, “Deep has focussed on fixing a couple of hygiene challenges which has affected the lady populace with their range of sanitation merchandise and, that too, without environment pollutants. With their merchandise, they want to empower each single location and each unmarried girl out there, which in step with me is not best a noble initiative but has exquisite capacity too.”
Currently, the startup has a 14 member team and 3 co-founders. It will use the newly raised funding to awareness on making investments in strengthening its market role in addition to developing an revolutionary product portfolio blend and a robust group. The crew is likewise planning to begin offline retail in Bengaluru and Mumbai inside the close to destiny.
Being Juliet – The Monthly Subscription Box
The startup has also currently launched a month-to-month subscription box carrier known as Being Juliet. It is a monthly length supplies subscription container. Users need to percentage their length date and other information about their menstrual cycle. Based at the preferences of the person, the box arrives five days previous to the length. It comprises sanitary essentials, length pain comforters, and other thoughtful gifts.
Users can pick out up to twenty sanitary essentials in the field. The field is available in 3 variations – Jade, Jane or Juliet, relying on user preferences. The Juliet is to be had for 3 months (INR 1650), 6 months (INR 3300) and 1 year (INR 6600).
Subscriptions to start with began with a weekly/month-to-month/yearly mag and newspaper subscriptions. The subscription box version in ecommerce space functions at the same lines. The goal is to engage the clients, search for an improved conversion charge, and build a loyalty programme among others.
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In India, the concept is still on its manner to garner traction. The subscription version hasn’t been the most desired option because it involves an prematurely fee of price. In most cases, the packing containers include samples of products to allow the user try out a product to persuade decision making. There are multiple options to be had like The Nibble Box, The Gourmet Box in the meals class or Origin One for stationary. The fundamental demand is for splendor subscription bins like FabBag, EnvyBox, and so on. BeingJuliet, however, claims to have over 1,000 clients to date.
Female Sanitation Industry Overview
As according to a report with the aid of Persistence Market Research (PMR), the worldwide feminine hygiene marketplace was worth $19 Bn in 2015 and is anticipated to attain $35.2 Bn by way of 2024 give up, expanding at a CAGR of seven.2% during the forecast duration.
Feminine hygiene products have also seen a mild increase in the recent years in India. Rapid urbanisation, growing middle class, rising awareness, growing range of operating ladies, and the increasing availability of sanitary products has driven the feminine hygiene marketplace in India. It reportedly grew at a CAGR of approximately 16.05% from 2010 to 2015.
Currently, woman hygiene merchandise are confined to sanitary napkins, pantyliners, tampons, and different merchandise (inner cleansers, sprays, disposable razors & blades). With PeeBuddy, a troubling and instant trouble inside the lady sanitation cycle is being efficaciously addressed, paving the way for greater open communication and solutions – need of the hour, in this example.
