Bengaluru might be falling short of the right infrastructure and business-friendly environment compared to Delhi and Mumbai but the city’s tech talent seems good enough to attract new-age technology-backed companies from across the country.
Online classified portal Quikr, which had shifted its headquarters to Bengaluru from Mumbai early this year, has now moved to its new campus in the city.
The campus, spread across a four-acre leased property at Hebbal – the new corporate hub of the ever-expanding city – can house 1,200-1,300 employees. The primary reason for the relocation was lack of sufficient tech talent in Mumbai that could satiate the growing requirements of the unicorn start-up.
Pranay Chulet, founder and chief executive of Quikr, said, “Mumbai was beginning to inhibit our ambitions due to lack of tech talent. People here (in Bengaluru) are more exposed and diverse.”
He added the difference between the cities is like that between New York and California in terms of tech talent.
On the key cost advantage the relocation has brought in, Chulet said, “It’s more than what we estimated but less than what you think. Salaries are higher here while real estate expense is lower compared to Mumbai.”
According to him, the average compensation for a techie in Bengaluru is 15 per cent higher than in Mumbai and Delhi. “Bengaluru is a city that knows how to value the market and product-oriented roles.” The company has hired about 500 employees for the Bengaluru office and it looks to hire another 500 soon.
With the relocation, Quikr has joined other start-ups that shifted their base to Bengaluru, such as cab-hailing service Ola, online bill payment turned mobile wallet company Freecharge and hyperlocal services provider LocalOye.
Quikr, founded in 2008, is present across 1,000 cities in India. In July, it underwent a re-branding process and introduced category verticalisation.
The company, which raised about $150 million in 2014, including a round led by Tiger Global, has raised $350 million in total in seven funding rounds. Its investor list includes Warburg Pincus, Kinnevik, Matrix Partners India, Norwest Venture Partners and Nokia Growth Partners, among others.
The company gets about 30 million unique visitors a month, of which about 80 per cent are through mobile.
Interestingly, Quikr’s new campus was formerly a cotton mill that housed a garment factory.
Chulet, who has a fascination for old, factory-styled buildings, retained the skeleton of the factory, including the huge steel pipes and factory-styled immovable benches in the cafeteria.
Image Courtsey:ndtv
