Atomberg's Founder Share Tips On How To Succeed As A Consumer Electronics Startup

Atomberg has recently received an undisclosed amount of funding from Hero Group’s Suman Kant Munjal and is heading towards a turnover of ` 100 crores this year. Mukul Yudhveer Singh, senior journalist from the EFY Group spoke to Sibabrata Das, co-founder, Atomberg Technologies, about what went right for the firm and what the ideal approach ought to be for someone entering the consumer electronics domain as a startup.

Over the past few years, a lot of startups have come up in the consumer electronics space, covering accessories like Bluetooth speakers, earphones, etc. However, the number of startups in product segments like ceiling fans has been quite low. Interestingly, Atomberg Technologies, a startup launched by IIT-Bombay alumni, Manoj Kumar Meena and Sibabrata Das, is currently not only doing well in the smart ceiling fans market, but is also planning to enter more consumer electronics segments in India.

According to one of its founders, the company is looking to foray into the smart appliances market. Atomberg was set up in 2012, and started its commercial operations about two years ago.

Sibabrata Das, co-founder, Atomberg, says, “In 2015, three years after setting up Atomberg Technologies, we were exploring the home automation domain—consumer electronics to be precise. We wanted to focus on IoT and started doing research around it. Soon, we realised that most of our peers in India are integrators, and the smart home market is fragmented, yet bullish. So we decided to launch energy-saving ceiling fans in India, to begin with.”

Since then, Atomberg has not only become reputed for its ceiling fans but has also made news with its unique marketing and customer acquisition strategies.

The focus should never be on marketing buzzwords

Das explains that, based on the hype around IoT, Atomberg initially wanted to start out as a company that made home appliances with smart features, but the team realised that the adoption of smart appliances was still low. Das and Meena then reworked their startup’s strategy, and apart from IoT and smart home appliances, decided that their firm would also launch energy-saving fans across India.