Mr Vijender Reddy Muthyala, Co-founder & CEO and Mr Manas Ranjan Hota, Co-founder & COO, founded DrinkPrime in 2016. Bengaluru-based DrinkPrime, a tech-startup company, has developed an innovative water purifier that helps provide clean, safe and healthy drinking water facilities to its customers across the country. It is a subscription-based service with a smart customized water purifier based on input water quality. Unlike traditional water purifiers that are not connected to the internet, DrinkPrime is Internet of Things (IoT) enabled and is in sync with a subscriber’s DrinkPrime mobile app, allowing them to monitor water purifier health at all times.
DrinkPrime has:
1 Lakh+ users,
add at least 1500 subscribers every month via referrals,
50+ subscribers have shared their experience via video testimonials
4.1 rating on Google from the 5500+ reviews.
Mr Manas Ranjan Hota shared what led them to start this venture, “Do you depend on water cans for your drinking water? How many times have you stood next to an empty water can and repeatedly called the delivery person so that you could drink a glass of water? Vijender (my then-roommate and now Co-founder) and I faced this issue multiple times before we identified the basic problem – hassle-free and affordable access to clean, safe and healthy drinking water in India. The data we came across shocked us – less than 50% of the Indian population has access to safe drinking water! While most of the population depends on plastic water cans for their drinking water, 85% of the water in these cans is unfit for consumption. Well…some of you might be using a water purifier. In that case, you belong to the niche <10% of the population with access to water purifiers”.
He further added, “Given the varying water quality across areas, forget cities, in India, we realized the need for a hassle-free and affordable drinking water solution. This led to the founding of DrinkPrime – the IoT-enabled, customized water purifier on rent with plans starting at ₹333*”.
DrinkPrime is the only customized water purifier on rent brand in India. It is not a water purifier manufacturing company but a drinking water solution provider. Unlike other water purifier brands, our offering is simple – the perfectly customized filtration system to access clean, safe, healthy drinking water. This means we factor in input water quality and choose the right mix of filters to ensure you get perfectly purified water, Not the under or over-purified water you get from all the traditional water purifiers available in the market.
DrinkPrime’s IoT-enabled water purifiers are here to disrupt the 30-year-old water purifier industry. With DrinkPrime mobile app, one can track their drinking water consumption, monitor water purifier health, recharge DrinkPrime, get quick support and refer others.
IoT enables real-time monitoring of the quality of drinking water DrinkPrime subscribers receive, and with AI, they can proactively schedule free maintenance checks for them.
Speaking about the incredible journey of their brainchild and the challenges they have faced so far, Mr Manas shared, “DrinkPrime has always been mission-oriented. I believe that this is something that has resonated with our 1 Lakh+ users. When I look back at our journey that began in 2016, I’d say that it has been truly incredible yet challenging. I’d like to attribute the incredible aspect of our journey to three groups of people – our investors who believe in our mission, our subscribers who trust us for their everyday drinking water and the DrinkPrime team that strives relentlessly to ensure we stay true to who we are and ensure our subscribers a hassle-free experience”.
“I’d say we are past the challenging period right now. But to be honest, we had had days when the entire team – tech, customer experience, operations, production, sales and marketing – ran all day on several cups of coffee to ensure our subscribers had the best experience. One thing we learnt from this is the power of communication and of being transparent with your customers. Want them to trust you? Be open to them”, he added.
Future Plans: We grew 330% last year. By the end of 2023, we aim to have 3 Lakh+ subscribers. We are taking steps towards not only making DrinkPrime service hassle-free but also affordable to the #NextHalfBillion. Additionally, we aim to collaborate with NGOs and foundations to take this initiative further to ensure safe drinking water access to more children.