Appily ever after

When web developer couple Mrigaen and Nupur Kapadia realised they had had their fill of their plush IT jobs in the US, they decided to head home to Mumbai to start their own business. Their eventual start-up Mobifolio was probably born out of the catchall nature of their ambition, as it provides a platform for users to create smartphone apps. Started in April 2014 with an initial investment of ₹1 lakh, the company kickstarted its portfolio with apps FuelBuddy and BreakFree. The former is a fuel management app that tracks user mileage, while the latter helps users crack down on their social media addiction. 

While Mobifolio is based in India, the primary market for its products is global, with most users coming from Europe or the US. “The Indian market has been reluctant when it comes to making purchases on the app. We are currently working on launching an app for the F&B space here,” says Mrigaen. While he handles the Android platform, Nupur takes care of iOS; graphic design work is outsourced to a Pune-based agency.

Mobifolio has five free apps on Android, of which BreakFree and FuelBuddy are the most successful; it earns through ad revenue and in-app purchases. This has helped the company rake in $1,500 on average each month since January 2015. “For an app to really take off, we need at least 50,000-60,000 registered users and this is where we are struggling with our other apps. This is why we are focusing on BreakFree and FuelBuddy for now.” After all, you can’t get all the people appy all the time.