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Tag: Deepak Ravindran

  • Lookup is a free hyper-local messaging app to chat with any local business

    Happy wins creative mandate for Lookup

    By A Correspondent

     

    Lookup has appointed Happy Creative Services to handle its creative partner. The appointment is for both the communication mandates, traditional and new age media.

     

    Lookup is a free hyper-local messaging app to chat with any local business. The application was launched earlier this year without much fanfare. Even so, due to its simplicity and relevance to consumers and businesses, it has managed to hit a million downloads within the first 9 months with over 70,000 merchant signups.

     

    Deepak Ravindran, a serial entrepreneur, who has spent over a decade in the messaging industry believes that chat is the future of commerce and envisions Lookup to become the Google of Offline for finding and ordering anything from a cup of latte to a prescription drug from any local store near you.

     

    Currently serving Bangalore, Mumbai and Delhi, Lookup will soon be launched in 10 major cities by end of this year.

     

    On the partnership with Happy, Deepak Ravindran, Founder of Lookup said “Happy brings to us the perfect combination of sound strategy, creativity, professionalism and young perspective. The brands they’ve built are proof of their capabilities. The team is made of young early adopters who have a pulse on what’s happening today as well as foresight of what will set us apart in the future. That’s very important for a tech-business like ours.”

     

    Speaking on the association, Praveen Das, CCO and Co-Founder of Happy Creative Services said “It’s interesting when both parties are wowed by each other. Deepak is a young founder. And he already has a few startups in his portfolio. He is bold, unafraid and just goes for it. His previous ventures have circled around similar themes, so his learnings are vast. We believe that hyper local is not the next big thing but the way forward now. Lookup partners with us during exciting times.”

  • Series A funding to be leveraged for rapid expansion

    Twitter co-founder Biz Stone invests in Lookup

    By A Correspondent

     

    Lookup, a free and secure messaging app that connects shoppers with local businesses has raised Series A funding from Twitter co-founder Biz Stone. Biz has joined the team as an investor and advisor. Lookup will be employing the funds towards investment in expanding its merchant base in order to enhance convenience for its users and to branch out in newer geographies.

     

    Lookup raised a total of $382,000 in its seed round, from multiple investors including Infosys’ Kris Gopalakrishnan, Teru Sato, DeNA and MKS Group (Switzerland). It was started by Innoz’s Deepak Ravindran and within about 5 months of launch, Lookup has already registered over 2, 00,000 downloads and has answered over 3 million queries.

     

    Speaking on his investment, Biz Stone said, “I’m honored to be a part of Deepak’s next big project and I am truly impressed by what he has already accomplished in his life. I’m very excited about working with such an inspiring entrepreneur, whom I share common ideologies with.”

     

    Deepak Ravindran, Founder and CEO of Lookup said, “I am extremely thrilled that Biz Stone is personally investing in our Series A round. It is almost surreal. His beliefs and ideals are very fascinating and I am glad that someone so altruistic and with such a genuine moral compass is a mentor and advisor to me and my company.”

     

    On his future plans, he added, “Receiving this funding is like getting another opportunity to blazon the world with innovation; to fill more e-pages in the world of businesses and startups. We plan to integrate all the offline businesses into the online world and connect them to their customers. The final goal is to make Lookup a global phenomenon and hope to ease the busy lives of the people.”

     

    Besides co-founding Twitter, Biz Stone also helped create and launch Xanga, Odeo, The Obvious Corporation and Medium. In 2012, Stone co-founded a start-up called Jelly Industries where he serves as CEO. The release of the Jelly app, a Q&A platform that relies on images, was officially announced in January 2014.