By Saumya Tewari

Online gifting platform, Badhai.in is looking forward to break even this year and also generate funds for marketing and funding growth said Founder and CEO of the company Ajay Pandey. The portal presently clocks around 1500 transactions (run rate basis) per month. The company is also aiming to clock around 50 percent month on month growth in this fiscal. The major chunk of this will be going to come from the corporate segment, added Ajay.

India Digital Review caught up with Ajay to understand the uptake of the venture, funding plans and company’s various initiatives and its recently launched Facebook App.

Talking about the Facebook app, Ajay informed, "Using the Facebook app users can wish their friends and family with an e-card and a bouquet of gift vouchers. Currently, users can gift Badhai vouchers and recipient can use it across merchants like Yebhi, Naaptol, BigFlix, Café Coffee Day and Unamia etc."

On being asked about Badhai's mobile strategy, Ajay said that the company's mobile presence is nascent and majority of Badhai’s traffic comes from web. However, he added that mobile gifting could be a real big going forward.

The gifting platform presently has a registered user base of 35, 000 which includes people who have either gifted or redeemed BadhaieGift Vouchers.

Talking about its merchant tie-up strategy, Ajay told us, “We have partnered with most of the leading brands covering categories such as lifestyle, electronics, apparel etc. In total we offer more than 1800 store locations and online websites for shopping using Badhai.”

Badhai had raised $200,000 in funding last year and on being asked whether they have plans to raise another round, Ajay said “Major portion of the funding last year was utilized in product development and proof of concept. We are happy that the system is running smooth. We are looking to raise capital around end of this calendar year."

Going forward, Badhai aims to aggressively grow its corporate business where Badhai as an instrument can be used for Rewards, Gifting, Celebrations, etc. On the retail segment, the portal is focusing on growing user base substantially without incurring considerable costs. Launching couple of more BadhaiFreegifts like apps is also in the pipeline.