Introduction

Sulekha.com is one of the most popular Indian Internet and Mobile companies offering an industry-leading digital commerce platform of marketplaces anchored around multiple consumer needs in over 50 Indian and North American cities. Chosen by Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI) in 2012 as Indias best multi-utility website, Sulekha uniquely integrates Local Search, Classifieds and Ecommerce services, enhanced by member blogs, answers, reviews and ratings in these key marketplaces: Property, Cars, Home Needs, Office Needs, Education/Training, Lifestyle, Movies, Gadgets, Travel, Eat outs, Buy/Sell, Deals. With operations in 14 cities, Sulekha employs 1000+ employees; its marketing slogan is: Delightful discoveries. Every day. Sulekha was featured in over 500 media stories; Extraordinarily stickysome call it addictive. (Convergence Marketing, Financial Times, London); Best Indian Destination for Local Commerce (PC World, India); Indias Most Popular Classifieds and Yellow pages (CNBC).

Company Background
Sulekha.com was founded by Satya Prabhakar and Sangeeta Kshettry, and was incorporated in India as Sulekha.com New Media Pvt. Ltd. in 2002. Sulekha has received investments from Indigo Monsoon Partners, Norwest Venture Partners (NVP) and Mitsui & Co. The directors on Sulekhas Board are: Param Parameswaran (Chairman), Satya Prabhakar (Founder and CEO), Harish Raghavan (IMG), Promod Haque (NVP) and Yasushi Okazaki (Mitsui & Co.)

Operations
Sulekha has its presence in 11 Indian cities (Delhi, Noida, Mumbai, Navi Mumbai, Bangalore, Chennai, Hyderabad, Pune, Ahmedabad, Kolkata and Coimbatore) and 3 North American cities (New York, Toronto, Austin).

Revenue Model
Sulekha has over 25 million unique visits per month. Sulekha has served over 75,000 Small to Medium Business (SMB) customers, 1500+ agencies and brands and has ~ 500 K transacting Internet users. Sulekha derives revenues from four sources:

Response and impression advertising revenues from Small to Medium Business (SMB) customers

Advertising revenues from major brands and services User fees for premium classified ads Commission from ecommerce revenues.

Marketing and Creative Commercials

While Sulekha.com has gained popularity largely through word-of-mouth, it has created and aired highly acclaimed commercials using quirky viral ideas.

The Red Arrows

This is a 40-second TV commercial that made the famous red arrow the creative mascot of Sulekha. The basic premise is that whatever one wants in his or her city, he can get it solved by shooting a red arrow at Sulekha.com. So, the TVC captures a family moving from one city to another, with all family members shooting red arrows at Sulekha.com to fulfill multiple of their needs.

Arjuna the Archer

Taking off on the red arrows concept and inspired by a 1000-year old story-telling art of Patha Chitra Katha (painting on palm leaves), Sulekha created an animated commercial Arjuna the Archer to a traditional Indian background score. The commercial told the story of a young archer, besotted by a girl across town, who achieves his hearts desire by simply shooting red arrows at Sulekha.com. This commercial won international acclaim through multiple awards:

2008 Cannes Bronze Award for Animation under film craft (JWT) 2009 Adfest Lotus Roots Silver Award in Film (JWT) 2009 Adfest Lotus Roots Bronze Award in Film Craft (JWT)

Yellow Rippers YouTube Viral

Sulekha.com launched a viral contest asking people to submit videos of themselves ripping up phone books in a dig at the fading importance of printed books and the emergence of digital medium. More than 250 videos were submitted with some tearing up fat books with bare hands, often in strange positions (e.g. hanging upside down). The contest spread fast with millions of views of various videos. The viral campaign won these awards of recognition: 2007 Adfest Gold for Sponsored/Promotion category (JWT)

Nothing but Babies Member-Inspired Commercial

A member of Sulekha scripted, shot and posted a video commercial showing a couple talking about how they were able to do multiple things through Sulekha, including finding each other except, they both agree, babies. This commercial also won wide recognition.

Sulekha.com raised over a Million dollars from its members within a few days of the Tsunami that hit Tamil Nadu and other parts of India during Dec 2004. This won critical acclaim from several American newspapers.

Awards won by Sulekha

Internet and Mobile Association of India (2011): rated Sulekha.com the Best Multi Utility Website. Financial Times (UK): Sulekha.comthe worlds largest online Indian communityis extraordinarily sticky some visitors call it addictive PC World (June 2008) rated Sulekha.com the Best Local Search Site in India.

Comscore (Jan 2009): Ranked most popular Classifieds and Yellow Pages in India CNBC (Oct 2008): Sulekha.comthe largest online Classifieds and Yellow Pages in India.

MSN (July 2008) rated Sulekha.com the Best WAP Site in India for Local Commerce. Venture Beat (May 2008): A merger between Facebook and Craigslist may seem like a pipe dream but in India its already happening. The web community Sulekha has quickly grown to become Indias largest user-generated content sitewith 6 million members