Two years ago, three entrepreneurs Chaitanya Nallan, Veerendra Shivhare and Sangram Simha realised that the haircare segment in India was saturated with brands that followed the one-size-fits-all regimen. Their personal experiences attuned them to the fact that everyone’s hair was different and hair problems needed to be treated in a personalised manner. And that data can help the customisation process. Thus was born Vedix, SkinKraft’s Ayurveda brand.
Vedix works on the fundamentals of Ayurveda and provides holistic solutions that address the root cause behind health issues. The three product customised immunobooster is formulated based on the Dosha analysis and focuses on different parts of the body. According to Ayurveda every person is born with a set of characteristics called as their Prakruti. Prakruti consists of Tri Dosha (3 Doshas) namely, Vata, Pitta and Kapha. Vata represents the workings of Air and Ether energy, Pitta represents the functions of Fire energy and Kapha represents the operations of Water and Earth energy. The mechanism of these 5 energies regulate, direct, control and manage all the functions in one’s body.
Chaitanya, founder and CEO, SkinKraft says, “While there are multiple brands trying to meet the surge in demand for natural products, there is no brand like Vedix that is both Ayurvedic and customised. Vedix follows the authentic Ayurvedic Vedas to formulate products which are not just safe but effective too.”
Data driven customisation
The startup leverages Machine Learning (ML) and Artificial Intelligence (AI) technology to understand a customer’s skin/hair problems and then customises products based on their individual requirements.
A person’s Doshas get elevated as he gets older and is exposed to environmental changes. When the Doshas are elevated, they create problems and diseases in areas of the body, in which they are present. Elevation of one Dosha may suppress the progress of the other Doshas in the body. This leads to further disturbance in bodily functions. To counter this, Vedix understands the state of elevated Doshas in one’s body through a questionnaire. Based on the inputs given by the user, Vedix then uses herbs and natural essentials, which can specifically help in controlling the damage caused by the elevated Doshas.
The Vedix regimen starts with an Ayurvedic Doctor approved Dosha Assessment Questionnaire. “Then using Artificial Intelligence (AI) together with Ayurvedic doctors, we analyse the user’s elevated Doshas based on their answers to the questionnaire. According to Ayurveda, balancing elevated Doshas helps improve quality of health and hence, our Ayurvedic experts recommend natural products that yield long lasting results,” he adds.
Using technology to customise Vedix products was never a challenge as Chaitanya, an alumnus of IIT Kharagpur and International School of Business (ISB), Hyderabad, has a decade-long experience of building and growing high-performance tech startups, which includes India’s first permission-driven mobile advertising platform company mGinger.
Veerendra who is the Chief Technology Officer of the company, is also a technology entrepreneur with nearly two decades of experience in tech startups, mobile technology, strategy and innovation.
Chaitanya and Veerendra have worked together in the past at mGinger and Infosys. They met Sangram, ex-Marketing Head at Caratlane in 2012 when he was already building Stylecraze, a part of IncNut, SkinKraft’s parent company. Sangram is the Chief Marketing Officer.
Commenting on the challenges in entering the Ayurvedic Hair Care market in India, Chaitanya explains, “We have been able to guide and collaborate with multiple brands as they grew their presence online. Some of these have been natural, Ayurvedic companies which gave us first-hand knowledge on how customers perceive natural beauty care products online. This, along with years of experience as being one of the biggest women-specific publishers in India has greatly helped us hit the ground running when we launched Vedix.”
Quality quotient
As for quality and traceability, all the ingredients used in Vedix products are sourced from high-quality, certified producers. The products go through multiple quality checks by external and internal agencies to make sure that you get the best, safest and highest quality ingredients in your products.
Vedix hair care products and immunity supplements is currently available only in India and are both Ayurvedic and customised. Vedix is FCCI, Vegan, WHO, GMP & ISO certified.
Sharing his insights on the natural haircare market in India and the impact of Covid 19, Chaitanya says, “We are seeing a massive shift in the consumer purchase pattern and it has led to further growth in our business. Consumers now prefer shopping online. Vedix follows strict several safety measures which have further helped cement consumer trust in placing orders with Vedix.”
Ayurveda is widely accepted among Indians, especially women. The Indian government promotes the use of home-grown products. Campaigns such as ‘Atma Nirbhar Bharat’ have helped Vedix as more and more people are becoming conscious and informed about locally produced goods, he adds.
Vedix has seen that supply has greatly improved from when it started a couple of years ago. Chaitanya points out that most of the shipping, returns and redirects are now automated and accessed by Vedix as well as the customers in real-time for better coordination and information transparency.
Outlining future plans for Vedix, he shares, “We want to be the go-to destination for everyone for their personal care needs. We believe customisation is going to be really big and one in three people will opt for it in the next 5 years. Technology in hair care has made massive developments in the industry so far. With this, we want to lead the custom-care segment in India, and offer our users the best possible results in the coming years.”
