Do you regret not getting a copy of a picture of yours clicked during a friend’s wedding or an important event you attended sometime back? A startup based in Kerala’s Kochi knows how bad you feel about those missing pictures.
The startup, Premagic, which identifies itself as an event marketing solution provider, ensures that you don’t miss your photo from an event, be it a formal snap or a candid shot.
The startup, launched in 2018 by Anup Mohan, a computer engineer from Thrissur, has made history as the first company in Kerala to be selected as the media partner at GITEX Global and Expand North Star, the prominent tech and startup event in the Middle East, North Africa, and South Asia.
Idea from a wedding album
Premagic is Anup's third startup and the second successful venture. He did his maiden attempt in entrepreneurship in 2010 when he was still a student of Vidya Academy of Science and Technology in Thrissur and it was a failure. After working in a few successful startups, he identified the mistakes he made and later started another tech venture, which he exited following an acquisition in 2015. In 2016, he got married, and it was the wedding that led him to his third venture -- Premagic.
Anup had to handpick 300-400 photographs for his wedding album from a hard disk comprising thousands of pictures handed over to him by his photographer. His friends also shared their experience of getting lost themselves in the flood of wedding photos in the attempt to pick a few for posterity. Anup identified it as a pain point and developed a software that helps photographers and customers to solve the problem.
He found a buyer – a prominent wedding photo company – as soon as he developed his prototype and it gave him the confidence to go ahead. He did a market survey with his prototype and developed it as a workflow management tool for event photographers. It was just a humble beginning and the real 'Premagic’ was yet to happen.
Scan QR code, get your pic
As Covid restrictions put a stop on large weddings, Premagic’s business came to nil. However, Anup was not ready to give up. He spent the downtime on researching how his business could be pivoted using AI and face recognition technology. The result was that Premagic developed a system with which all attendees of a function can access their photographs taken by the organisers with a simple registration.
The attendees of an event just have to scan a QR code provided by Premagic and register by giving their name, WhatsApp number, email and a selfie. As soon as the photographer assigned by the event organisers upload the photos on cloud, those registered on the platform get their photos on WhatsApp as an album.
The feature was introduced at a wedding in Dubai. Event managers soon realised the power of the technology and Premagic started getting work orders.
“The attendees of such events started posting their pictures on social media instantly as they got them. It helped big time in marketing events. We got much attention as event organisers identified our product as a marketing tool. Now we get orders mostly for corporate events,” Anup, CEO, and co-founder, said. Anup is also joined by two co-founders, Mevin Chirayath and Anenth Vishnu.
Anup said the AI algorithm they use has 98 per cent accuracy in face detection. Organisers of an event can also create captions on the platform which attendees can post on social media. Premagic also ensures more visibility for sponsors by including their logos and promotional videos in the albums sent to users.
Premagic’s pivot has had an indisputable impact on its revenue. While the company’s revenue was around Rs 5 lakh a month in 2021, now it has grown up to clock an annual turnover of over Rs 4 crore.
Funding
Started as bootstrapped, the company raised Rs 2 crore in a pre-seed funding in 2021 and talks are on for the next round. The company has also received an idea grant of Rs 12 lakh from Kerala Startup Mission (KSUM). The company has its office on the KSUM campus in Kalamassery and has around 25 staff.
Anup said one of the right steps he took with Premagic was to get directly into the market with a prototype without waiting for the final product. It helped him develop the product based on the customers’ feedback and needs.
The company’s client base is spread across UAE, Europe, the US and South East Asia. Premagic has won recognitions, including the TiE Kerala Innovator of the Year 2022. It was also selected as one of the top 23 startups in 2023 by Headstart.
Anup is all excited about being selected as the media partner of GITEX Global, set to take place from October 15 to 20, at the Dubai World Trade Centre. Concurrently, Expand North Star, the startup summit, will grace the Dubai tech landscape. Both events are poised to become pivotal moments for the global tech community.
"GITEX Global is a globally recognized event, and being chosen as the media partner is a significant achievement for Premagic. It opens doors for us to expand into GCC countries and shines an international spotlight on startups in Kerala," he said.
(Startup Saturday is Onmanorama’s weekend series featuring promising startups from Kerala. Find the previous stories here [https://www.onmanorama.com/topic/general-topics/38/startup.html])
