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India currently has third largest internet user base in the word and it is estimated that by the year 2017, India will overtake the US to become the second largest Internet users base in the world. Though you’ll find many people who have smartphones with a great internet connectivity but a majority are not able to make use of it due to broken and inadequate broadband infrastructure in India. The biggest problem in India is the connectivity and most of the people using internet on mobile phones prefer ‘pay as you go’ scheme.
The founders of Gurgaon-based Adstuck Consulting Pvt. Ltd., Abhishek Shankar, Kundan Kumar, and Ritesh Malik, came up with the idea to kick-start a reverse data platform – where companies would reimburse the burned data of users for using their apps and give some more for future retention. Every time a user uses an online platform, a certain amount of data is consumed and this app returns the burned data through a recharge.
Shalvi Singh, Lead Analyst at Adstuck stated that they have partnered with the telcos so as to make it more convenient for the user to get the used data rather make the app free to use. She further added “We’re not only helping users to get through the data mesh but also helping brands in customer acquisition. If the user wants to get more data he’ll spend more time on the app.”
The company monetizes on the user acquisition cost. It has tied up with companies like Flipkart, Amazon India, PayTM, Cleartrip etc and has over 200 partners. It is currently being bootstrapped but is planning to raise a huge amount in the coming days.
As per estimates, out of the approximately 7.1 billion people worldwide, there are still 4.2 billion non-Internet users, mainly in developing markets. Adstuck aims to fill this gap and has partnered with about 548 telecom operators globally, buying data in bulk from them and then giving it to users for trying varied apps or surfing the web. Till date, it has distributed 150 million MB of data to 3.8 million users through its third party apps and sites. The startup claims to have a monthly active user base of 1.75 Mn users and aims to reach over 1 billion people in 29 countries by 2020.
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