Success Story: Birth and death are the biggest rituals of human life. Apart from these two, another important ritual is marriage. Birth and death are not in the hands of man, but when it comes to marriage, a person does it as per his own wish after careful consideration. Apart from the boy and girl, families from both sides are fully involved in the marriage. Apart from both the families, there is one more person present, without whom marriage cannot take place. That person is called a middleman. In Indian society, it is the middleman who brings together the families of the boy and girl and works to satisfy both the parties. But do you know who is the biggest middleman of India, who has conducted 5 crore marriages till now. Through this work he has accumulated so much money that he has bought stakes in many big companies. His charm is such that these days it is seen even on television, he drives in big vehicles, and new businessmen or entrepreneurs seek his blessings. The valuation of his own company is estimated at Rs 2,500 crore.
If you have not yet understood who this person is, then let us tell you. The name of that person is Anupam Mittal. Anupam Mittal, Founder of Shaadi.com. These days he sits as a judge in Shark Tank India. Those starting a new business want him to invest money in their company and provide guidance. It is claimed on Shaadi.com that till now 5 crore relationships have been established. It can be said that there is no other middleman bigger than him in the world, at least in India. His success story is no less interesting.
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Anupam Mittal, born in Mumbai, did his early studies from Jai Hind College. He did MBA in Operations and Strategic Management from Boston College, United States. After completing his studies, he took up the job of a product manager in America itself. This job did not last long and he left America and came to India. After returning to India, he started working in web development in his father’s office. At this time Anupam was 25 years old.
How did the idea of Shaadi.com come about?
While working in his father’s office, Anupam Mittal caught the attention of a traditional middleman. That middleman started presenting Anupam to his customers. This was the only time when Anupam realized that this was a scattered business. People don’t have many options. One has to choose from whatever is available. To give people choice, he started a website called Sagaai.com in 1996.
The only objective was to provide a virtual space where people could search for brides and grooms. He started this website but could not devote full time to it. Soon there was such a crisis in 2000-2001 that the dot com bubble started bursting. Many companies went bankrupt. Anupam worked in a company called Micro Strategy, which was also badly affected by this crisis.
turned disaster into opportunity
At the same time, Anupam Mittal came across a site on which many American people were searching for partners. Mittal’s brain worked and he caught the pulse. At that time there were very few internet users in India, which was a big problem in their work. Since the Internet was still a long way off in India, Mittal targeted the American market. There were similar needs in America as well as in England and Canada.
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Anupam Mittal felt that the name Saagai.com was not suitable for arranging marriages. When he left his job in America, he also changed the name of his portal to Shaadi.com. This was the first time when there was a separate portal to find bride and groom for marriage.
There was no internet, then how did things work?
Even in 2001, there were very few internet users in India. Secondly there was also a crisis of confidence. How can such a work be done through a portal, which till now has been done through pundits and relatives. Anupam Mittal applied his mind and opened an offline center or rather a shop. Opened in 2004, matrimonial services were provided in this shop. This center was named ‘Shaadi Centre’.
Gradually, internet users started increasing and Shaadi.com started emerging as a brand, because people were liking the personalized services. In 2008, this portal had 1 crore users and 10 lakh people had got married. By this time it had become the largest and most popular portal in the country.
Anupam Mittal understood the importance of publicity very well, hence he also advertised through newspapers and other media means. With Star Plus he also brought the country’s first matrimonial TV show. In the next 3 years, i.e. by 2011, the number of users of Shaadi.com reached 2 crores.
Mittal always thought two steps ahead
As the brand grew, Anumat Mittal realized that being big once was not enough. Now only that which will keep the users engaged will survive in this game. In view of this, he launched the Facebook game ‘Angry Bird’. This game was specifically aimed at making people aware against the evil practice of dowry. Through this campaign, Shaadi.com got 6 lakh new users and now the total number of marriages has reached 30 lakh. This was no less than a milestone.
This portal continued to grow and so did the offline centre. By 2015, 100 marriage centers had opened in 70 places in India. By then the competitors had also raised their heads. Bharat Metromoney and Jeevansathi.com had also established themselves, which was a new challenge for Anupam Mittal. Marriage has great importance in Indian society, but with the spread of internet the option of dating has also opened up for the younger generation. Mittal understood the need and bought 25 percent stake in Thrill Group in 2016.
By 2019, Jio had changed the internet world. This year Shaadi.com added 15 lakh users. More than 12,000 signups took place in a single day. Then this portal captured 40 percent share in the market. Even today, Shaadi.com remains the first choice for people searching for marriage on the Internet. In this journey of 27 years, 123 marriage centers have now been established in 72 cities of India.
Anupam Mittal’s net worth
The name of the parent company of Shaadi.com is People Group. Its CEO is Anupam Mittal. Mittal has a major stake in this portal. Apart from this, he is a partner in many companies as an angel investor. He also has capital in real estate and other assets. Although exact information about Anupam Mittal’s net worth is not available, but many media reports suggest that he is the owner of property worth Rs 185 crore. Anupam Mittal lives in a 6 BHK house in a posh area of South Mumbai with his wife Aanchal Kumar and daughter Alessa.
As an angel investor, he has invested money in more than 200 companies. Talking about some big names, these include Big Basket, Interactive Avenue, Ola Cabs, Fab Hotels, Prop Tiger, Porter, Ketto, Trail, Let’s Venture.
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Tags: business news, Success Story, successful business leaders
FIRST PUBLISHED: February 16, 2024, 16:19 IST
