Gadget repair start-up Phixman aims to more than double its reach by having over 200 touch points by the end of this year. Last year, the bootstrap firm opened 40 new outlets to take its total service center count to 75.Moreover, it is in talk with manufacturers to become their exclusive service providers and also has plans to bring in new services under its umbrella. “From repairing a couple of hundred products to repairing 2 lakh devices in one year in 2019, our journey has been remarkable. In our next phase of growth, we will open more outlets and kiosks, offer new services such as insurance on devices and become first choice of customers,” said Shaad Rehman, founder, Phixman.
To fuel this growth, the Delhi-based firm is in talk with venture capitalist to raise funds. “The idea is to bring in someone who understands our business model,” said Rehman, who along with his friend Atul Ranjan launched Phixman in Indore in 2015 and later moved the base to Delhi in 2017.
At present, Phixman offers repairs and services for smartphones, tablets, laptops and desktop of all major brands, including Apple and Samsung. Competition-wise, it not only competes with authentic service centers and other players such as Bigfix and Buzzmeeh but also with unorganised players who are spread in every nook and corner of the country. “Service centres and local vendors have their own disadvantages. While getting services from the former is time consuming and expensive, people have trust issues with the latter. On the other hand, we give services of a service centre at prices of local repair centres,” Rehman said. He adds, “At present, gadget repair market is estimated to be around $200 million in India and this number is only estimated to go up as smartphone penetration is going to go up significantly in the next four year.”
To boost volumes, the firm has plans to have more than 100 kiosks in malls of every major cities where the gadgets can be repaired. Additionally, it will continue to provide home pick-up and delivery of its services. It expects that these measures will help to boost its total repair count by 35 per cent in 2020 over 2019 numbers, and even increase its revenue in FY20 by similar number. Last financial year, it clocked revenue of Rs 12 crore and claims to operationally profitable.
In talk with venture capitalist
To fuel this growth, the Delhi-based firm is in talk with venture capitalist to raise funds. The idea is to bring in someone who understands its business model