Before Smart was Hot! (Zippr turns 2)

Two years ago on this day, we embarked on a journey to solve a very specific problem very prevalent in India; to communicate your address in an identical manner to both friends and merchants.

What triggered the birth of Zippr?
With inverse commerce on a rapid rise where products and services get delivered to your doorstep, discovery of the residential address becomes critical to your daily lives; not just a comfort or convenience anymore. From entering your 4-line address in whichever merchant site/app offers you the best deal, to dealing with new delivery boys every time, the experience has to be better than this.

The Cliche’d Gut Instinct
Zippr was started on a gut; to take an in-your-face problem and find a scalable solution that applies to the entire country and possible global opportunities. In the last 2 years, we have undertaken multiple initiatives. Partnership with 108 Ambulance service, tying up with local municipalities, Zippr has made impressive strides but a lot more action to look forward to. What can a simple 8-character code do? Apparently a whole lot!

#MySmartAddress
At the time Zippr started, the only “smart” thing in our world was a mobile phone. Since then, “Smart” has probably been the most-abused word in the english dictionary. Does adding smart to your product, makes it a better product. What next; Smart Air? With this debate in progress, we also realised our need to connect with the general populace and launched the truly “smart address” format.

Zippr’s digital address format that is a true abstraction of the physical address that enables better last-mile logistics, provides better address quality for easier verification for telcos and banks, ensures simpler address changes, brings together residents that live in communities and allows neighbourhood businesses to engage with their neighbouring residents.

Do we take all the credit?
Honestly no! Zippr thrives in the right ecosystem and we have been fortunate to exist in current times; where startups are given a legitimate opportunity to solve large-scale problem through both private and government partnerships. In the last 15 months, India has made significant development with announcing the Smart Cities project and actually following up on them. In the last 6 months alone, Zippr is undertaking smart address execution in the 4 Indian cities with population of more 3 million.

In the next few months, you will see Zippr usage popping up in your community, at work and within business interface for order delivery. Stay tuned; we’re just getting started!

– Aditya Vuchi (Founder/CEO Zippr Pvt Ltd)