Mauj as a consumer brand

Category: VAS | 1 Comment | Posted on August 23, 2006

ET has press release like article on Mauj. It can hardly be called a company profile, but nevertheless worth a dekko.

• Founded by Anupam Mittal (of Shaadi.com) and Arun Gupta (ex-Yahoo India) in August ’03
• Turnover of about Rs 10 crore with 165 people
• Raised $10m from Sequoia India and Intel Capital in March ’06
• Revenues grew 50% last fiscal, targeting 300% growth this fiscal

Arun Gupta, CEO of Mauj:

There is no fixed formula for success in a new business. “One needs to have a clear idea on what new contribution one can make to the existing value chain. And putting together a good management team is of paramount importance.”

Mauj is one of largest content aggregator and an important player in this space. Therefore, the last sentence in the article is noteworthy.

Going forward, the challenge for the company is to build Mauj as a consumer brand in the mobile content space.

Does Mauj harbour aspirations to become a consumer brand? Is a D2C (Direct to Consumer) initiative in the offing?

Today an aggregator’s presence is hardly noticed by the consumer. A user interacts with the operator, while Mauj and other aggregators are virtually hidden as behind-the-scene technology / content providers. The two brands that the user identifies are that of the operator and the content owner.

Lets see what tactics can Mauj employ to balance its interests in the existing customer (the operator) and its future customer (the consumer).

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