Access to drinking water is a problem in most parts of India.

Less than 50 per cent of the population has access to safely managed drinking water. Chemical contamination of water is present in 1.96 million dwellings.

Access to drinking water is a problem in many parts of India.

About 35 per cent of the nation’s urban population obtains and stores drinking water in bubble-top water dispensers, which are popular among people in the 22-40 age bracket, living in rented homes.

However, more than half of these cans in circulation do not meet the safety standards set by the government. Plus, ordering water is a cumbersome process.

Testing the waters

As flatmates, Manas Ranjan Hota and Vijender Reddy also faced difficulties in accessing potable water in 2015. The water available was dirty impure. Traditional water purifier was an option, but recurring service costs made it less desirable for the duo.

“Frustrated, we started thinking of a solution. Our first idea was to develop an app for home delivery of good quality water cans. We received a good response, and within six months reached 6,000 active users in just two suburbs of Bangalore,” recalls Hota.

However, unit economics was didn’t make sense; their business lost money on every order. This is when the two realised that a point-of-use water purification solution would be a better approach to tackle this problem.

“We studied several water purifiers available in the market and reached out to many experts to understand their detailed functioning,” Hota says. “Our research showed that the core problem is the prohibitive cost, both upfront and maintenance of each device. This was the motivation for us to design DrinkPrime.”

Making the most of IoT

DrinkPrime is a subscription-based smart water purifier with an integrated Internet of Things (IoT) device. The product, claim the founders, can measure and track the quality of water, filters and consumption.

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According to Reddy, a direct-to-consumer sales approach, coupled with the use of IoT, which reduces the maintenance cost, helps DrinkPrime make the purifier affordable for costumers. “We have built a smart product and an ecosystem to deliver safe and affordable drinking water to our subscribers.”

For a monthly subscription fee, DrinkPrime takes care of everything — from logistics to installation to regular proactive maintenance.

The pricing plans are customised to different segments, taking into account the water quality in the area and consumption volume.

The subscription fee starts from INR 350 per month (under US$5).

“During installation, we help the customer download the DrinkPrime app and sync it with the purifier. Subscribers can check the status of the purifier, the water consumed, pay their monthly subscription fees, and request services easily on the app,” Reddy explains.

In addition, DrinkPrime monitors the status of the purifier from its backend and sends alerts to the customer when the maintenance is due. When the customer selects a convenient time, DrinkPrime’s technician partner will come and do what’s needed.

DrinkPrime’s early adopters are mostly working professionals, aged 22-40 years.

A US$50B opportunity

Currently, DrinkPrime operates in Bangalore and Hyderabad, with plans to start operations across the top 10 Indian cities in the next 18 months. The company is also receiving interest from Southeast Asia, South Asia, the Middle East, Africa, and Latin America, but for now, the prime focus is India.

The market size is over US$5 billion in India alone. If other developing countries are included, it is a US$50 billion opportunity and is growing at a CAGR of 20 per cent.

Right from the start, DinkPrime faced several crises: “Our initial challenge was product development. Getting the right IoT sensors and the right filter technology that would work in varied field conditions was a long and tedious process. We were able to achieve a stable product only after 12-plus months of rigorous testing,” reveals Hota.

“When we started, we with a GSM (cellular connectivity) connectivity as we wanted an ‘always-on’ connection to monitor the water quality in real-time. But when we deployed the solution, we noticed that in many Indian homes, the kitchen was housed behind thick walls, which disrupted the connectivity leading to improper functioning of the device,” says Hota, an MBA graduate who has previously worked at Sonata Software.

To overcome this, the company went with the Bluetooth mode of connectivity and had to develop computation capabilities inside the purifier. Now, the data can be monitored real-time, and it gets transmitted whenever the purifier is synced with our mobile app.

Managing the blue-collar workforce, inducing technicians and delivery partners, was another major challenge. As it was a completely new product, DrinkPrime had to put in a lot of efforts to train and up-skill the team, the founders disclose.

A D2C company, DrinkPrime manages end-to-end solutions — from hardware, production, marketing, installation, to resolutions. “Drinking-water is a segment where trust plays a big role in customers’ decision-making. This is the reason why companies resort to huge advertising campaigns and celebrity endorsements.

However, we don’t have a budget for this, so we tried to build trust through the use of data. For example, as we get more installations in a particular city, we have an up-to-date map on area-wise water quality,” shares Reddy.

DrinkPrime uses this information to change the filter composition according to a customer’s input water quality. It takes this a step further by suggesting other products — from tap and shower filters to hair and beauty products, each customised to the customer’s input water quality.

“We feel that such a personalised approach can only be achieved by taking a D2C route,” says Reddy, an ex-AMD researcher.

DrinkPrime was part of the Sequoia India’s recently-concluded Surge programme in Singapore and raised an angel round of funding from investors that included FirstCheque and Snapdeal Co-founder Kunal Bahl.

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“The best part of Surge is the power of the community of entrepreneurs and the peer group learning that comes with it. We feel like whatever questions or dilemmas we have, someone in the group has already been through the same and we just need to ask and learn from their journey,” the co-founder-duo says.

Lessons learned over the past 4 years of your existence?

“We went through many near-death experiences while building DrinkPrime. It is important to persist and believe in yourself. It is equally important to finding a support network of mentors, advisors, and well-wishers who back you in difficult times,” says Hota.

Never be too attached to your solution or creation but be passionate about the problem you are trying to solve, he warns. This will help you objectively analyse if the solution is working or not and be able to pivot when the right time comes.

“For example, we pivoted twice before landing up with our current business model. Although are still solving the same problem, the solution is different.”

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Image Credit: DrinkPrime

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