Startup Circle: How is Helo Protocol helping SMBs go online and create their online stores?

Helo protocol helps businesses create their online store, accept orders from their loyal customers, take payments and deliver the products to the customers seamlessly. The USP is a 0% commission flat fee model. They have also come up with a very unique group buying concept for people staying in apartment complexes. The brainchild of IIT Delhi and MIT Manipal alumni.

“We are based out of Bangalore and we were founded in December 2019. Our core team members are from the startup sector and e-commerce background,” states Gagandeep Singh, Founder, Helo Protocol. Gagandeep is an expert in coming up with simple solutions to complex problems, a skill he learned in Google and perfected when he architected Ola Share. At Helo Protocol, Gagan is using his past learnings to make it easy for small businesses to go online. With CiOL, Gagandeep shares the journey of the startup and its plans.

How did you come up with the idea?

Whatsapp has made it extremely easy to reach out to people. We saw a lot of businesses spending manual time in managing orders, rather than focussing on the product. Helo Protocol helps businesses save 1-2 hours of daily manual effort.

How are you different from other players?

Helo protocol is unique in its own regard. Unlike other players, Helo Protocol offers a full-stack service i.e order taking, payment collection and deliveries. Moreover, the pay per use model is unique in itself too. Helo Protocol charges its clients between ₹1 - ₹4 per transaction depending on the services used, this is by far the most economical option available to businesses. Most players are operating on a monthly subscription model for which businesses have to make lump sum payments at the start even if their usage is quite low.

Another uniqueness of Helo is their apartment pre-ordering solution, which allows multiple people to order together, and delivered together. This is particularly useful for small businesses who can get more orders from neighbours shopping together.

What is your business or market growth?

We have been growing 10% week on week.

The pandemic has affected every sector. How are you coping?

We have seen increased adoption during the pandemic, and no signs of businesses slowing down as things start opening. In a lot of ways, the pandemic has accelerated the adoption of online shopping, which helps both small businesses and customers.

What are your Post-Covid plans?

We plan on making our group offering solution more mainstream and creating a marketplace where customers can find more artisanal businesses. We’re focussing on solidifying our delivery experience to make it seamless for businesses

Funding

We have raised an undisclosed amount from LetsVenture and other prominent investors. This is going to fuel our expansion.