Trell - Unleashing varied voices across sectors

Trell - Unleashing varied voices across sectors
Unleashing varied voices across sectors

Product reviews are the output of peoples' comments/feedback on an item they have purchased. A product review aids other customers in acquiring a thorough understanding of the product before making the purchase. Other people may read the comments and decide for themselves whether or not the product is worth purchasing.

Hearing about other people's previous buying experiences might aid buyers to determine whether the product or service has met or exceeded their requirements previously.

You may find it difficult to offer essential information only through the product specifications and description in some cases. Customers may browse reviews to see if the product will work for them in their unique scenario.

Trell is an application-based network founded by IIT-Bombay graduates that allow individuals to explore product reviews in a variety of categories including Fashion, Personal Care, Recipes, Technology Gadgets, Movies and TV Reviews,.

So this article will give you all the information about Trell founders, funding, growth, competitors, and more.

Trell - Company Highlights

STARTUP NAME TRELL
Headquarters Bangalore, Karnataka, India
Sector Ecommerce
Founders Arun Lodhi, Bimal Kartheek Rebba, Prashant Sachan, and Pulkit Agrawal
Founded 2016
Website trell.com

Trell - About
Trell - How it Works?
Trell - Industry
Trell - Name and Logo
Trell - Founders and Team
Trell - Startup Story
Trell - Mission and Vision
Trell - Business Model
Trell - Revenue Model
Trell - Challenges Faced
Trell - Funding and Investors
Trell - Investments
Trell - Acquisitions
Trell - Growth
Trell - Achievements
Trell - Competitors
Trell - Future Plans

Trell - About

India's biggest Social Commerce platform, Trell, enables people, in ten Indian languages, to express their opinions and preferences in the lifestyle sector such as Fashion, Personal Care, Recipes, Technology Gadgets, movies, and TV Reviews,.

The platform allows users to get recommendations, insightful information, and comments about beauty, grooming, and personal care items from relevant contemporaries, which they can purchase straight from within the app on 'Trell Shop.'

Trell - How it Works?

Trell is a firm that creates clips of travel and local activities using a visual blogging platform. Its platform links individuals by allowing them to locate, share, and analyze their favorite locations and activities through content that is mostly user-generated and in the form of short films, allowing learners to know about new locations before visiting them.

People may use the location-based storytelling platform to build attractive collections of their trip experiences, favorite dining spots, and other adventures.

Trell - Industry

According to a Statista estimate, significant growth is anticipated in the ecommerce market over the next several years. Forecasts indicate that this industry will generate US $59.25 billion in revenue by 2024.

Moreover, a strong compound annual growth rate (CAGR 2024-2029) of 11.45% is anticipated for the industry, resulting in a projected market volume of US $101.90 billion by 2029. These results demonstrate how active the e-commerce market is and how there are a lot of potential for companies in this space.

Trell Logo
Trell Logo

Trell's legal name is "Trell Experiences Private Ltd."

Trell - Founders and Team

Trell was founded by Pulkit Agrawal (C0-Founder and CEO), Arun Lodhi (Co-Founder and CTO), Prashant Sachan (Ex Co-Founder), and Bimal Kartheek Rebba (Co-Founder and Chief Operating Officer) in 2016.

Pulkit Agrawal (Co-Founder and CEO),  Prashant Sachan (Ex Co-Founder),  Arun Lodhi (Co-Founder and CTO), and Bimal Kartheek Rebba  (Co-Founder and Chief Operating Officer), Co-founder of Trell (Left to Right)
Pulkit Agrawal (Co-Founder and CEO), Prashant Sachan (Ex Co-Founder), Arun Lodhi (Co-Founder and CTO), and Bimal Kartheek Rebba (Co-Founder and Chief Operating Officer), Co-founder of Trell (Left to Right)

Arun Lodhi

Arun Lodhi is the Co-Founder and CTO of Trell. He has completed his education at the Indian Institute of Technology in Bombay.

Bimal Kartheek Rebba

Bimal Kartheek Rebba is Trell's Co-Founder and Chief Operating Officer. He used to work with ITC Limited as a Lead Consultant. Before that, he worked at several firms, including ScienMine, GE, and Infosys. He earned his bachelor's degree in engineering from Jawaharlal Nehru Technological University and has done MBA from Indian Institute of Management Mumbai.

Prashant Sachan

Trell was cofounded by Prashant, however he left the company in July, 2020. He is now the founder of AppsForBharat. He earned his bachelor's degree from the Indian Institute of Technology in Bombay. He worked on Cortana with Microsoft R&D before co-founding Trell. He had previously worked with Samsung R&D on ChatOn Messenger. He holds a Master of Design degree from IIT Bombay and a Bachelor of Mechanical Engineering degree from Uttar Pradesh Technical University.

Pulkit Agrawal

Pulkit Agrawal is the CEO and Co-Founder at Trell. He also completed his education at the Indian Institute of Technology in Bomaby. He is also the founder of Personify, which he founded before founding Trell.

Trell - Startup Story

Pulkit was seeking a nice pooja pandal to visit for Mumbai's most celebrated celebration, Ganesh Chaturthi. He had been in Mumbai for four years then, but, other than the renowned ones, he seldom got the opportunity to watch decent Ganesh Chaturthi celebrations. He had no idea how everything was commemorated in the neighborhood. Even on the Internet, practically everybody used to talk about those four or five well-known pandals.

So, Pulkit, with the help of a Mumbai acquaintance, whisked him off to all such little-known pandals that only locals are aware of! These culturally rich pandals on a variety of topics, including the Bollywood celebrities' whereabouts, Swachh Bharat Abhiyan, exquisite Tamil architecture, and Ramayana performances, were a surprise for him.

When he inquired how she learned about all of these hidden jewels, his acquaintance said that such knowledge is only exposed to locals and that they'd not post it elsewhere internet unless they were into blogging. Blogging is especially tough and time-consuming for those who do not enjoy writing and do not have the time to create lengthy materials.

This started the concept of addressing the void of local fascinating knowledge sharing, even among those who aren't interested in blogging. So, he decided to tackle the challenge of how we might make it simpler for individuals to blog and make it more entertaining. He intended to make blogging "exciting," "clear," and "obvious" for all, especially teens, so that they might quickly begin sharing local details and inspiring experiences for others like ourselves.

Therefore, in November 2016, Trell was born. The crew found that several accounts, such as Mumbai foodie, were gaining a lot of traction on Instagram. As a result, they chose to begin with Instagram to investigate how people are finding new products through such accounts.

@trellingmumbai was the name with which Trell began its Instagram journey, where it shared exclusive and generally unknown information about the city. Trell went popular in less than 4 months, amassing over 40,000 followers. That was confirmation for Pulkit and his co-founders that the demand for this prevailed as well. The team also began organizing meet-ups, such as photo walks or culinary events, and enlisting the help of a few of the best travel and food bloggers. This gave them a better understanding of how influencers work.

People may use this location-based narrative platform to create attractive collections of their trip experiences, beloved dining spots, and other adventures. It assists them in finding new experiences around themselves via their contemporaries, which they may record in a wish list for future reference. Trell, the startup's app, was released in July 2017 and is currently available on Android, iOS, and the web.


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Trell - Mission and Vision

Trell's mission statement states, "How do we move to these markets that have disposable incomes and affinity to experiment and aspiration to buy good brands, but don’t have access to or an understanding,” says Bimal Kartheek Rebba (Co-Founder and COO).

Trell vision is to "empower every Indian to make better lifestyle choices."

Trell - Business Model

Trell has shifted from a social commerce-focused business model to one that is centered on advertising. Trell targets advertising solutions in this approach by utilizing its user base and engagement. The site also looks at joint ventures for sponsored content production and product placement in user-generated material. Trell hopes to use its community and content ecosystem to generate value for users and marketers.

Trell - Revenue Model

Trell makes revenue from different resources: some of the prominents ones are:

Community-led Content Commerce: Trell makes revenue by enabling user-generated content to be used for commerce. Trell uses affiliate links or direct purchases to increase sales by promoting content creation and sharing about goods and services by community influencers.

Influencer Brand Partnerships: Trell partners with businesses to bring their products to its active user base in the hopes of generating income. Influencers in the Trell community are tapped by brands to actively market their products through sponsored postings and partnerships.

Solutions for focused Advertising: By monetizing its platform, Trell provides marketers with solutions for focused advertising. Trell gives advertisers the chance to target their ads precisely, increase the efficacy of their campaigns, and make money from ad placements by utilizing user data and engagement metrics.

Trell - Challenges Faced

Trell faces several challenges as it endeavors to carve a niche in the Indian market. The prevalence of Westernized content on the internet has made it necessary to provide content in native languages and with cultural context. However, this is made more difficult by problems like unreliable networks and sluggish internet speeds that are experienced nationwide. In addition, providing cutting-edge services is hampered by the high cost of technology.

Furthermore, constant work is needed to maintain India's rich cultural legacy on the site. Trell has also been negatively impacted by claims of financial irregularities made in March 2022, which has resulted in large layoffs while the business attempts to allay these worries and win back customers' faith. Trell is unwavering in its resolve to champion India's rich cultural diversity and empower users in spite of these challenges.

Trell - Funding and Investors

Trell has raised $61.9 million in six rounds of funding to date.

Here are the funding details:

Date Round Amount Lead Investors
Jul 12, 2021 Series B $45 million H&M CO:LAB, LB Investment, Mirae Asset-Naver Asia Growth Fund
Aug 17, 2020 Series A $11.5 million KTB Network, Samsung Ventures
Mar 3, 2020 Seed Round $4 million Peak XV Partners
Dec 14, 2019 Seed Round Fosun RZ Capital
Jul 26, 2018 Pre-Seed Round $1.3 million BEENEXT, WEH Ventures
Mar 4, 2017 Angel Round $250K -

Trell - Investments

On April 1, 2021, Trell invested $200K in AppsForBharat with seed round, signaling confidence in its mission and potential. The company's growth initiatives are strengthened by this finance, which also validates its vision and opens the door for future success in the Bharat market.

Trell - Acquisitions

Trell acquired Womaniya, the top woman-only site in India with useful material in native languages, on September 20, 2021. Trell's dedication to broadening its user base and extending its products is further demonstrated by this calculated acquisition.

Trell - Growth

Trell; some of the growth highlights are:

  • It has 100 million users as of February 2024
  • The company has 50 million monthly active users as of February 2024
  • It has 18 million creators in its platform as of February 2024
  • It is present in 10 Indian Languages with users as of February 2024
  • It has featured 500+ brands as of July 2021

Financials

Trell Financials
Trell Financials
Trell Financials FY22 FY23
Operating Revenue Rs 81 crore Rs 4.77 crore
Total Expenses Rs 413 crore Rs 64.3 crore
Profit/Loss Loss of Rs 268.3 crore Loss of Rs 58.6 crore

EBITDA

Trell Financials FY22
EBITDA Margin -941.4%.
Expense/Rs of Op Revenue Rs 13.48

Trell - Achievements

Trell: Some of the prominent achievements are:

  • Trell was also recognized as one of the "Top ten promising businesses globally" at StartupBootcamp'16 (Europe's Largest Accelerator), FBStart'17, and Nasscomm's 10K Program.
  • It is also the only Indian startup that was named to the 'Top 20' for the Worldwide Mobile UX Awards, with other industry giants such as Crunchbase, Wattpad, and Eventbrite, for providing the greatest user experience in the Social and Communications area.

Trell - Competitors

Roposo, VerSe Innovation, StreamLayer, STAGE and WinZO are among some of the Trell's competitors.

Trell - Future Plans

Trell is concentrating on steering its business model in a new direction that will meet investor expectations and the evolving market. The business is committed to redefining its strategic direction and exploring new opportunities by utilizing its resources and investor backing. Trell hopes to come out of this process stronger and more competitive, prepared to grab hold of opportunities and propel growth in the ever-evolving digital market.


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FAQs

What does Trell do?

Trell is an application-based network founded by IIT-Bombay graduates that allow individuals to explore product reviews in a variety of categories including personal grooming and skincare, food, movies, fashion, wellness, web-show reviews, travel-related services and home design and decor.

Who founded Trell?

Trell was founded by Pulkit Agrawal, Arun Lodhi, Prashant Sachan, and Bimal Kartheek Rebba.

When did Trell start its operations?

Trell started operating in 2017.

Which companies do Trell compete with?

Roposo, VerSe Innovation, StreamLayer, STAGE and WinZO are among some of the Trell's competitors.

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