Introduction:

In the ever-changing landscape of global commerce, the process of outsourcing services has emerged as a significant challenge for businesses worldwide, spanning geographical boundaries and industry sectors.  Businesses face numerous challenges, ranging from the identification of suitable outsourcing agencies to the complexities of maintaining fruitful engagement with the agencies on a daily operational basis. Zafo Technologieswas builtwith the goal of making the entire outsourcing journey easier for businesses. Zafo is a productised B2B marketplace that connects businesses with marketing agencies.

US organisations looking to outsource their marketing to India frequently face difficulties in identifying a dependable agency who can deliver expected results. This is due to reasons such as the lack of standardised reviews and ratings for the agencies and minimal business understanding regarding the scope of work and pricing . Agencies, on the other hand, face challenges such as unclear scope and deliverables, a lack of business opportunities due to low market exposure, and client payments that are late.

Businesses typically spend 4-8 weeks shortlisting and selecting an agency. Zafo's B2B marketplace makes this as simple as a few clicks. Agencies are chosen and onboarded after a rigorous 15-point evaluation. Zafo provides businesses with productised services, where each contract is standardised, to ensure perfect transparency regarding the scope and cost. Zafo also ensures that agencies provide weekly progress updates. This helps firms track the progress of the project. Zafo serves as an enabler. The partnering agencies are in charge of project implementation from start to finish.

Zafo has achieved significant market traction and growth. With minimal marketing budget and a lean team, the company has handled a GMV of ~50 Lakhs in the first quarter of their operations. Zafo has built business partnerships with approximately 70 agencies and signed up 100 businesses to test their services on the platform. Zafo's clients include well-known Indian and international brands such as Yourstory, Wasson watches, and Grinz, among others. The platform's revenue and customer adoption have consistently increased.  This traction demonstrates the company’s ability to rapidly scale and establish a monopoly in this unique segment. 

Abanish S Vijay and Prasoon Sudhakaran, MBA classmates at IIM Bangalore, founded and built Zafo Technologies. Abanish brings extensive sales and finance experience from his previous positions at an early-stage startup and KPMG. Prasoon has extensive experience in product management and coding, having worked as a senior product manager for a unicorn startup and an e-commerce firm based in UAE.

Market Opportunity:

US companies invest $130 billion each year in marketing outsourcing, creating a $26 billion revenue opportunity for Zafo Technologies. Despite competition from well-funded companies such as Expand My Business Global, which raised $8.78 million in Series A funding, and Clutch.co, which raised a significant $121 million in Series B funding, Zafo's unique value proposition positions them to capture a sizable portion of this profitable market.

100X Thesis:

IT and Business Process Services are India's largest exports, and they are growing rapidly year after year. Global demand for Indian services is high, but businesses are unable to find reliable service providers.  With founders who have faced similar challenges, Zafo is well-positioned to solve this and build the world's largest B2B Marketplace for IT and BPO services.

Conclusion:

Zafo stands out as the premier platform for businesses around the world to find and engage with service providers. It is clear that such a solution has a large market potential and is urgently needed. In the long run, Zafo hopes to establish itself as the premier destination for all business outsourcing requirements. The company sees itself as the future of outsourcing by leveraging the power of AI to streamline the discovery process, facilitating seamless connections between businesses and service providers on a global scale. Zafo aspires to be the first choice for businesses looking to outsource any type of service, cementing our reputation as the premier platform in the outsourcing industry.