At Ankur, we’ve always been passionate about the transformative potential of technology in reshaping the small business sector— a critical engine of India’s economy, contributing 30% of the nation’s GDP. This is no small market, yet we recognize it’s one of the toughest to crack. Startups aiming to make an impact here need what we call hyper product-market fit. These customers are tough to win over, and every paisa is hard-earned. We’ve seen many companies raise millions, only to see little return on their investment. The tailwinds of mobile penetration and covid were positioned as trends to drive accounting software to CRM for SMBs - but it wasn’t enough!
What we absolutely love about Superfone is the pull from customers to pay from day one! There are no freebies, just a product that has a front door entry into an SMBs spend. Pradeep and Nikhil have pounded the pavement and technology stacks - to come up with an elegant product which envisions a smarter phone built for the needs of a small business. In its basic avatar it's a phone subscription that can do a lot more! They call themselves a neo-telco, but for the small business owner it is a phone connection with seamless features that help them to be more effective.
Beyond the SIM Card; creating a software-first business solution
Superfone realized the high dependency on a ‘mobile number’ that these businesses use as a channel for communications. The phone number is the identity of a business for all inbound and outbound sales calls, it used that as a wedge to transform it into a powerful business phone which is SMB friendly. The phone could drive meaningful customer interactions, improve sales conversions, provide actionable insights, or enable seamless team collaboration—all of which could help a small business grow.
Innovating on the phone has been limited as the underlying technology—the SIM card— is hardware-based and is inherently restrictive. Superfone as a neo telco uses an Mobile Virtual Network Operator (MVNO) allowing existing numbers to become versatile digital tools. The company delivers a fully app-based business phone one-stop solution integrated with advanced tools like CRM, lead management, WhatsApp marketing, and AI-powered agents—all designed to accelerate business growth and success for SMBs. It turns out shifting $4 billion currently spent by SMB’s on telecom and other services is easier than selling an app!
It’s not often that a new category is created - it is a hard journey and requires conviction. Kudos to the team for navigating this and we can't wait to see what the newly acquired license and funding will unlock.
With the addition of new licenses and funding, we’re excited to see Superfone scale and establish a new category in the Indian market.
