One-stop hobby shop

With a rise in e-commerce platforms catering to the products category, services have also slowly started getting the attention of start-ups. Looking at the huge gap in the online services space, Luv Gupta came up with the idea of Butterfly, a marketplace for extracurricular activities and hobby sciences. The app is for those who want to pursue a hobby or an activity which they are passionate about.

“Even though there are a growing number of establishments and academies in the extra-curricular space, very few are able to connect to the right kind of customers. We aim to resolve this gap,” says Gupta. With more than 8,000 services currently listed on the platform, they comprise of academies for calligraphy, make-up courses, creative writing, foreign languages, theatre and dramatics etc, Gupta points out fitness, music and dance are the top three top three in demand categories.

The start-up charges a 10% commission for all enquiries that close in a successful transaction, while the end-user gets to use the marketplace free of cost. With a presence in Gurgaon and Delhi it plans to hit Mumbai two months down the line.Butterfly has raised an undisclosed amount of seed funding by a group of HNIs after starting off with an initial investment of about ₹60 lakh.

While the application displays various establishments, the service provider manages the back-end for them. Talking about the initial problems while setting up, Gupta explains the resistance from the service provider’s side in terms of updating their website and the inertia of promoting their service as the main issues. “We are largely hyper-local and hence are opting for offline promotion for now. We recently hosted a few events at Cyber Hub in Gurgaon,” adds Gupta.

The founder is keen on signing up more providers and is targeting Bengaluru after he has set shop in Mumbai.