Travelling is fun but with lots of luggage you cannot enjoy your leisure time. Moreover, the journey itself becomes hectic when you cannot rest due to the fear of luggage damage or theft. Vasudeva Murthy not an alien to this problem, came up with his startup Travelcloth. It is a door-to-door luggage pickup and drop service which lets you enjoy your journey without worrying about your luggage.
Startup Name | Travelcloth |
Founders | Vasudeva Murthy |
Industry | Logistics Services |
Company Classification | Private Limited |
Headquarters/based-in | Bengaluru, Karnataka, India |
Idea | To provide door-to-door luggage delivery services for national and international travelling. |
Revenue | Not clearly mentioned. |
Date of Commencement | 2018 |
Investments | Bootstrapped, open for investment. |
The Problem: Why Does This Matter?
Luggage management while travelling is a challenge in itself and there is hardly any traveller who is unaffected by this.
Managing kids while handling luggage is the biggest concern while planning a holiday trip.
Elderly people or physically challenged people, have to deal with bags while maneuvering their mobility devices. Moreover, we all stuff our numerous bags into the limited car spaces on vacation.
Lastly, the security and safety of our belongings on bus, train, or air transport, often leaves us anxious. What if our bag is lost? What if some thief took my bag while I was sleeping?
Despite rapid advancement in technology, this issue is overlooked by the travel industry. Vasudeva Murthy witnessed one such incident on a train journey. A senior citizen tied his suitcase with a chain whose one end he tied to his hand. Seeing that, he realized the need to develop something useful to ease the luggage burden for all.
The Solution: Travecloth
Vasudeva Murthy, having experienced the same scenarios while travelling, decided to change the travel experience for people globally. With 25+ years of experience in the service sector, he quickly identified the gap and the need for an innovative luggage management solution in the market.
He launched Travelcloth 2018, his startup which provides seamless luggage management services that collect traveler’s luggage before the journey. It also ensures that the luggage arrives safely at the destination before the traveler arrives. In short, a door-to-door luggage service.
Workings of Travelcloth
- Traveler books the service.
- A pickup is arranged for their luggage before the journey begins.
- Based on the distance to the destination and service, pickup is done 2 to 4 days in advance.
Luggage picked from the base location in Bangalore is shrink-wrapped or bubble-wrapped. If the pickup location is other than Bangalore, Travelcloth ensures that their logistic partner ensures good packaging to avoid physical damage.
Then, the internal software and dedicated customer support team track every luggage and timely deliveries are made.
All this is easily and effectively managed by self-developed and customer software, technology, and processes.
Business Model: How Do They Make Money?
The company earns by charging a fee for the services provided. Moreover, the mobile application offers various paid features.
Challenges/Struggles: What Roadblocks Are They Facing?
Challenge: The major challenge faced by Travelcloth was during the Proof of Concept (POC) stage to educate customers that they could actually travel without luggage.
Solution: To overcome this, the company’s strategy is to focus on mass advertisement.
Challenge: To partner with the logistics company, a good company which can ensure timely and customized deliveries.
Solution: The present logistics company helped in providing the desired logistic services.
Future Vision: What’s Next?
Even though the company is bootstrapped but presently, Travelcloth is looking forward to raising external capital to power its operations.
Key Takeaways: Why Should Users Care?
Identify the gaps between the problem and solution.
Look for possible solutions available in the market.
If any are available, what are the possible services missing from it?
If any solutions are not available, it is time to provide your solution to the people.
Look forward in raising awareness about the solution you are providing.