As many of you might know, I founded a company in 2007, with the mission to create computers for the rural market.
India has 35 crore children of school going age, 30 crore of whom have been without (online) education for the last 1.5 years. In 2007, the digital divide was about children finishing school without any computer skills. Hiring managers said - if you can’t type on a computer, you might as well not know how to write. But today, it’s a lot worse. With the rise of EdTech and online education, the unfair advantage to those who have access to YouTube and app/web based education is simply disgraceful.
Thinvent has done a great job (if I may say so myself) of building rugged, reliable, hassle free computers that last much longer than the average desktop or laptop, while facing the heat, dust and erratic power of rural India and Africa. We have large customers like the Railways, banks, logistics companies, startups and chains of educational institutions, who have given us repeat orders for over a decade now.
While much of our revenue comes from the B2B segment, we also rock in the consumer segment. Our online education star, the Micro 5, is a quad core 1.5 GHz computer with 2 GB RAM and WiFi, Ethernet and Bluetooth connectivity. It supports Zoom and Google Meet, and lets students comfortably attend classes, conduct online research and finish assignments. In the hallowed tradition of eating our own dog food, my younger son Kavin attended classes on the predecessor of the Micro 5, the Micro 4, for many months during the lockdown of 2020. The Micro 5 sells for just ₹2,150 and is supported for at least five years (taxes, shipping, keyboard, mouse and monitor extra).
Our products have frequently been bestsellers on Amazon. We support home and small business customers across the vastness of India. However, one thing we haven’t invested in is marketing. We have lived by the adage that once you build a better mousetrap, the world will beat a path to your door. In our case, that has held true mostly for technically aware customers, who can appreciate the long term value of our product.
And that brings me to the point of this post. We are going to be raising money by selling equity in the company, and using that money to reach out to the vast consumer base in India and other emerging economies that _deserves_ to be using our computers. If you know someone looking to invest a few lakh rupees in a company that has been profitable for years, and has a track record of growth and customer satisfaction, please do send them my way. I have some aesthetic graphs to share with them.
[ We are, at the moment, not talking to large investors. There are certain core values that we will not compromise on in the pursuit of growth - paramount being that we do not exploit our workers. We provide full time employment to all who manufacture and test our computers, and cover all their healthcare and education expenses. We aren’t in the race to be the cheapest manufacturer of computers; but we do know that we are the best.
We work hard to reduce the environmental impact of our computers. We replace 10 kilogram computers that consume 50 Watts of power and have a supply chain that winds round and round the Earth, with 200 gram 5 Watt computers built with components sourced from our thirty odd suppliers spread across Delhi/NCR (and some crucial help from our friends in Taiwan). Even those 200 grams, we choose carefully to have the least impact on the planet, and then fastidiously recycle at the end of the computer’s life.
When you invest in Thinvent, your money creates meaningful jobs for school pass outs, diploma holders and engineers from diverse backgrounds. We give them the freedom to solve real world problems in engineering and operations, with ownership and fulfilment. We also foster an ecosystem of reliable computer component manufacturers in India, by asking our suppliers to focus on quality not undercutting the Chinese. If you make what we need in India and you make it well, we will be sure to source it from you instead of importing it. ]
India has 35 crore children of school going age, 30 crore of whom have been without (online) education for the last 1.5 years. In 2007, the digital divide was about children finishing school without any computer skills. Hiring managers said - if you can’t type on a computer, you might as well not know how to write. But today, it’s a lot worse. With the rise of EdTech and online education, the unfair advantage to those who have access to YouTube and app/web based education is simply disgraceful.
Thinvent has done a great job (if I may say so myself) of building rugged, reliable, hassle free computers that last much longer than the average desktop or laptop, while facing the heat, dust and erratic power of rural India and Africa. We have large customers like the Railways, banks, logistics companies, startups and chains of educational institutions, who have given us repeat orders for over a decade now.
While much of our revenue comes from the B2B segment, we also rock in the consumer segment. Our online education star, the Micro 5, is a quad core 1.5 GHz computer with 2 GB RAM and WiFi, Ethernet and Bluetooth connectivity. It supports Zoom and Google Meet, and lets students comfortably attend classes, conduct online research and finish assignments. In the hallowed tradition of eating our own dog food, my younger son Kavin attended classes on the predecessor of the Micro 5, the Micro 4, for many months during the lockdown of 2020. The Micro 5 sells for just ₹2,150 and is supported for at least five years (taxes, shipping, keyboard, mouse and monitor extra).
Our products have frequently been bestsellers on Amazon. We support home and small business customers across the vastness of India. However, one thing we haven’t invested in is marketing. We have lived by the adage that once you build a better mousetrap, the world will beat a path to your door. In our case, that has held true mostly for technically aware customers, who can appreciate the long term value of our product.
And that brings me to the point of this post. We are going to be raising money by selling equity in the company, and using that money to reach out to the vast consumer base in India and other emerging economies that _deserves_ to be using our computers. If you know someone looking to invest a few lakh rupees in a company that has been profitable for years, and has a track record of growth and customer satisfaction, please do send them my way. I have some aesthetic graphs to share with them.
[ We are, at the moment, not talking to large investors. There are certain core values that we will not compromise on in the pursuit of growth - paramount being that we do not exploit our workers. We provide full time employment to all who manufacture and test our computers, and cover all their healthcare and education expenses. We aren’t in the race to be the cheapest manufacturer of computers; but we do know that we are the best.
We work hard to reduce the environmental impact of our computers. We replace 10 kilogram computers that consume 50 Watts of power and have a supply chain that winds round and round the Earth, with 200 gram 5 Watt computers built with components sourced from our thirty odd suppliers spread across Delhi/NCR (and some crucial help from our friends in Taiwan). Even those 200 grams, we choose carefully to have the least impact on the planet, and then fastidiously recycle at the end of the computer’s life.
When you invest in Thinvent, your money creates meaningful jobs for school pass outs, diploma holders and engineers from diverse backgrounds. We give them the freedom to solve real world problems in engineering and operations, with ownership and fulfilment. We also foster an ecosystem of reliable computer component manufacturers in India, by asking our suppliers to focus on quality not undercutting the Chinese. If you make what we need in India and you make it well, we will be sure to source it from you instead of importing it. ]