Yamini Bhat says her deep sense of patriotism was her inspiration for launching a SaaS company in India.
Headquartered in Bengaluru, Vymo is a software as a service (SaaS) company where customers pay a licence fee for their software, and then more for customisations and extensions of the product. It offers sales force management solutions to major BFSI (banking, financial services and insurance companies), including Berkshire Hathaway in the U.S., AIA Group in South East Asia, and HDFC Bank and ICICI Bank in India. Billing is based on the number of users. During the 2020 lockdown, the company was able to break through the U.S. market, its biggest market, both in terms of opportunity and business. But cracking the U.S. market from Bengaluru during the lockdown was tough. However, it was the turning point that catapulted Vymo, says Bhat.
Sales force comprises more than 50% of BFSI workforce globally. In certain cases, direct and allied sales force comprise up to 80%. Their output is critical for revenue and growth, so it’s important to manage their productivity as well. The backend learning algorithms of Vymo enable the app to tailor personalised recommendations to sales representatives.
Before Vymo, Bhat led sales transformation for large enterprises at McKinsey, and her co-founder, Venkat Malladi, built intelligent mobile applications at Google. Vymo was founded in 2013 to pursue Bhat’s dream of creating opportunities for engineers within India, to plug the brain-drain. It’s not just another sales automation tool, says Bhat, but a habit that changes user behaviour.
The company’s daily active user base is 75% currently, with each user spending 50 minutes per day on the app. It has raised $45 million till date, and serves around 65 clients globally. — Rajiv Ranjan Singh