Quenching the Thirst A Husband-Wife Duo's Tech Innovation Makes Bottled Drinking Water Affordable

5 minutes

In the Shah Rukh Khan-starrer movie "Swades," the protagonist Mohan Bhargav finds his calling after witnessing a boy selling water at a remote railway station. Similarly, for Amitt Nenwani, Co-founder of Wahter, his moment of awakening came during a routine business trip.

Observing the Need

While on the road, Nenwani stopped to buy a bottle of water, only to be struck by the sight of a child drinking from a pool of roadside water. This stark contrast sparked a conversation with his wife, Kashiish, leading them to realize the urgent need to make clean water accessible to all at an affordable cost. Thus, the idea for Wahter was born.

Founding Wahter: A Mission with Purpose

Determined to make a difference, Amitt and Kashiish founded Wahter in 2023 with the ambitious goal of selling water for as low as Rs 2 per 500 ml bottle. Their vision was to address a critical issue: access to safe drinking water, especially for underserved communities.

Innovative Approach: Tech-Driven Solutions

Wahter is not just an ordinary packaged water startup. It's a tech-driven solution that allocates 80% of its label space to partnering brands, offering advertisers a unique opportunity to customize and design their own labels. This innovative approach ensures that advertisers get the most out of their expenditure, utilizing Wahter's tech stack to reach their target audience effectively.

Making sure water reaches everyone

Wahter has made an app that lets advertisers order bottles and put their own designs on them. They can see how the final product will look in 360°. They can even choose specific places where they want to sell their water, down to the PIN code. After their designs are approved and the bottles are shipped, advertisers can track how many bottles are sold in real-time. They can see which areas are selling the most and come up with plans to sell even more.

The app also gives brands useful information about where their bottles are being sold and who is buying them. This helps them make plans that match what their customers want. Right now, Wahter is selling bottles in places like ITO, Connaught Place, Noida Film City, Cyber City, Udyog Vihar, and Sohna Road in Delhi NCR. They want to make sure everyone can get their water easily, whether they're in a big supermarket, a small store, at work, or even on a plane.

Wahter is also working with Scrapbuddy, a company that recycles PET bottles. They're planning to recycle 10 million bottles in Delhi-NCR over three months. This means turning waste into useful things like fabric and paving blocks.

Business Model

Wahter charges companies between Rs 10 and Rs 20 for each bottle of water they sell. The price depends on which group of people the company wants to target with their advertising. Wahter has teamed up with Vijay Sales, a big electronics store in Delhi, to sell their bottles at all their stores in the city. They also work with boAt Lifestyle, a brand that sells electronics, and the Shoobhi Foundation, an organization that provides clean water to people in Delhi-NCR. So far, Wahter has promised to sell half a million bottles.

They plan to team up with more brands, both in India and internationally, in the future. They're also going to partner with a real estate developer in the UAE soon. To make things easier, Wahter has set up bottling plants every 75 kilometers. This helps reduce the burden of moving bottles from one place to another.

Growing Market and Future Plans

The advertising market in India was worth a lot of money in 2023, about Rs 916.32 billion. Experts think it's going to keep growing at a rate of 11.0% every year until 2032. By then, they estimate it will be worth around Rs 2344.01 billion.

Wahter, the startup, has big plans for the future. The startup projects revenues of Rs 250-300 crore by FY 2025-26 and Rs 3600 crore by FY 2028-29. They want to reach more cities as they grow. Right now, Wahter sells bottles that hold 250ml and 500ml of water.

They'll decide if they need to make more sizes depending on what people want. Wahter says they don't have any direct competitors right now. While they're not looking for money yet, they might start asking for funds soon to grow even faster.

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