Ayush Jhawar of Genefied on Supply Chain Intelligence, Trust-Led GT Engagement, and AI-Driven Brand Loyalty

In this edition of Recap’25, StartupTalky speaks with Ayush Jhawar, Founder and CEO of Genefied, who reflects on how supply chains in 2025 are shifting from fragmented, intermediary-driven systems to intelligence-led ecosystems built on trust, visibility, and real-time engagement. Jhawar highlights how brands operating in General Trade have long struggled with limited transparency, weak channel connectivity, and minimal consumer interaction—challenges that have become increasingly untenable in a data-driven market.

He goes on to discuss how Genefied is addressing these gaps through a unified supply chain technology platform that combines traceability, digital warranties, loyalty, rewards, and predictive analytics into a single ecosystem. The conversation explores the growing role of AI in anticipating risks, optimising engagement, and enabling proactive decision-making, Genefied’s evolution beyond siloed SaaS tools, and its focus on building scalable, sector-agnostic solutions that strengthen trust and measurable impact across India’s complex distributor-led networks and global markets.

StartupTalky: What service does Genefied provide? What was the motivation/vision with which you started?

Ayush Jhawar: Genefied provides a comprehensive supply chain technology ecosystem that enables brands to build trust, visibility, and loyalty across General Trade and adjacent channels. What began as a technology solution for CPG brands operating through distributors, wholesalers, and retailers has evolved into a full-stack platform covering product traceability, digital warranties, channel loyalty, rewards, and fulfillment.

The original motivation behind Genefied was to solve a fundamental gap in traditional supply chains, lack of transparency and direct engagement. Brands were heavily dependent on intermediaries, with limited visibility into product movement, retailer behaviour, and consumer interaction. The vision was to create technology that connects every touchpoint, allowing brands to move closer to their channels and consumers through data, authenticity, and measurable engagement.

StartupTalky: What new features have been added in the past year? What is/are the USP/s of your SaaS?

Ayush Jhawar: Over the past year, we’ve significantly strengthened our AI and analytics capabilities, particularly in predictive insights for loyalty performance, campaign optimisation, and risk identification such as diversion or leakage. We’ve also expanded our QR-enabled traceability and digital warranty frameworks, making product authentication and post-purchase engagement more seamless across sectors.

The core USP of Genefied lies in its ability to unify multiple critical functions such as traceability, loyalty, rewards, and digital warranties into a single, scalable platform. Rather than offering siloed tools, we deliver an integrated ecosystem that provides end-to-end visibility and intelligent engagement, purpose-built for the complexity of General Trade and large distributor-led networks.

StartupTalky: How did your industry evolve in the past year, and what changes did you make to stay relevant or ahead of the curve?

Ayush Jhawar: Over the past year, the industry has seen a clear shift away from static, transactional engagement toward real-time visibility and predictive intelligence. Brands are no longer satisfied with retrospective reports; they want foresight, insights that help them anticipate risks, personalise engagement, and improve operational control beyond e-commerce ecosystems. Increasingly, this intelligence is also being used to understand product offtake at a regional and location level, allowing brands to plan production, inventory, and go-to-market strategies with far greater precision.

To stay ahead, Genefied evolved both technologically and strategically. We expanded our AI-driven decision layer, enhanced automation across workflows, and repositioned ourselves as a broader supply chain technology ecosystem. Our refreshed brand identity reflects this evolution, signalling clarity, scale, and a forward-looking vision aligned with where the market is heading.

StartupTalky: Which key metrics do you track most closely to evaluate business growth and product performance?

Ayush Jhawar: We track a mix of growth, engagement, and outcome-led metrics. These include platform adoption across brands and geographies, active retailer and consumer participation, campaign ROI, scheme effectiveness, and repeat usage across loyalty programs.

From a product standpoint, we closely monitor insight accuracy, system uptime, integration success, and time-to-value for clients. These metrics help us ensure that the platform is not only being used, but delivering measurable, actionable impact at scale.

StartupTalky: What were the most significant challenges you faced this year, product, market, or operations and how did you address them?

Ayush Jhawar: One of the most significant challenges we faced this year was revenue concentration. A large share of Genefied’s business was coming from a few industries where we had deep expertise, and we were vertically doubling down within those sectors. While this helped us build strong capabilities, it also meant that our revenue cycles were exposed to macroeconomic fluctuations and international geopolitical developments that directly impacted these industries.

To address this, we consciously broadened our approach. We began scaling horizontally by exploring new industries and adjacent sectors where our core product strengths could create value. At the same time, we sharpened our focus on Make in India brands, companies that manufacture in India and build primarily for the domestic market. This shift helped us diversify risk, reduce dependency on a limited set of sectors, and align more closely with India’s manufacturing and consumption-led growth story, while opening up more stable, long-term growth opportunities for the business.

StartupTalky: Customer success has become critical for SaaS sustainability. What strategies have worked best for engagement and reducing churn?

Ayush Jhawar: For us, customer success is tied directly to outcomes, not usage alone. What has worked best is ensuring that clients see clear value through measurable improvements in retailer engagement, scheme adoption, and trust across their networks.

Regular performance reviews, proactive optimisation of campaigns, and AI-led insights that clients can immediately act on have played a key role. We also provide clients with data and insight reports at regular intervals, helping them track outcomes clearly and supporting sustained growth in platform adoption. By helping brands move from reactive execution to proactive decision-making, we’ve been able to build long-term partnerships and reduce churn.

StartupTalky: AI is now reshaping SaaS at every level. How are you using AI across your product or operations, and what tangible impact has it delivered so far?

Ayush Jhawar: AI sits at the core of Genefied’s platform strategy. By combining historical and real-time data, our AI models uncover behavioural patterns, predict risks like diversion, and optimise loyalty and engagement programs.

The tangible impact has been a shift in how brands operate, moving from manual, reactive interventions to insight-led, proactive strategies. This has resulted in better campaign performance, stronger retailer relationships, reduced operational inefficiencies, and higher trust across the supply chain.

StartupTalky: What tools and software form the backbone of your business today, from product development to sales, support, and operations?

Ayush Jhawar: Genefied operates on a cloud-native, API-first architecture supported by advanced analytics and AI frameworks. Internally, we rely on modern product development, CRM, customer support, and collaboration tools that enable cross-functional visibility and faster decision-making.

This integrated tech stack ensures that our teams, from engineering to customer success, remain aligned and responsive as we scale across industries and markets.

StartupTalky: Looking ahead, where do you see the biggest growth opportunities for your industry in India and globally, and how are you preparing for them?

Ayush Jhawar: The biggest growth opportunities lie in digitising General Trade at scale, expanding traceability and anti-counterfeiting frameworks, and building intelligent loyalty ecosystems that go beyond basic incentives. These needs are increasingly relevant not just in India, but across emerging and global markets facing similar supply chain complexities.

We are preparing by building adaptable, sector-agnostic solutions, strengthening predictive analytics, and ensuring our platform can scale seamlessly across geographies while remaining locally relevant.

StartupTalky: One tip that you would like to share with another SaaS founder?

Ayush Jhawar: Don’t underestimate real-world complexity. The most successful SaaS products are built not just on strong technology, but on a deep understanding of how businesses actually operate. Focus on clarity, customer success, and people capability alongside product innovation, because sustainable growth comes from trust and long-term value creation.

Explore more Recap'25 interviews here.