Reimagining Content

Video content creation is at an all-time high, while consumption is increasing given the work from home scenario. A premier platform that is helping content creators communicate to their audience effectively, and in 12 Indian languages is Trell. It is a platform where users share their experiences in lifestyle categories like personal care, food, technology, movie reviews, etc. After acquiring the requisite information, the user can purchase directly from their app called the ‘Trell Shop’.

Launched in August 2017 by IIT Bombay alumni Arun Lodhi, Pulkit Agrawal, and NITIE alumnus Bimal Kartheek Rebba, the genesis of Trell can be traced back to the singular realisation by the founders on the dearth of meaningful content, and discovery being a challenge in the age of click-bait content on the internet. 

The Journey So Far

“My love for technology and coding started when I was 8 years old. I began gaming and creating what would resemble bookkeeping apps in today’s world, using languages such as C++ to ease out the accounting process for his family business,” says Pulkit Agrawal Co-founder and CEO, Trell. An engineering graduate from IIT Bombay, Agrawal was one of the first thousand app developers in the country at the time of the smartphone revolution. At Trell, he spearheads the company’s vision, strategic course, technological initiatives, and business development. 

Bimal Kartheek Rebba, the Co-founder and COO of Trell is driven by his fascination for content in all forms, as he says, “Ever since I was a child, I have been passionate about content. I constantly consumed content in different formats such as films, shows, books, music and now on-the-move content that we see on our smartphones.” Having worked with big corporate companies as lead consultancies such as ITC, GE and Infosys, he has developed leadership skills that not only motivate the entire team but also inspire innovation. 

The seeds of Trell were sown long ago when Rebba moved to Mumbai for college and he realised the diversity of languages and people in the country, prompting him to think deeply about regional languages and the need to make information accessible. He has travelled a lot into the interiors of India to gain knowledge about diverse cultures and languages. He is extremely forward-looking and working towards the next big thing through Trell, which has drastically evolved over the last few years from a food and travel blog to a full-fledged mobile app.

Overcoming Obstacles

However, the founders did face some challenges which were conventional to other startups, as Agrawal notes, “Other than that, some of the challenges we faced when we started Trell was how to build an agile team that would take Trell to great heights, how to solve for problem statements at scale and of course, how to manage finances.” However, these initial hiccups were overcome and Trell has successfully raised three rounds of funding, taking the total funding to $62 million at present.

Today, Trell has become a key matchmaker between brands, KOLs, and users, and is on a mission to build a trusted ecosystem where millions of Indians can become micro-entrepreneurs and earn a sustainable source of income on the internet and has onboarded over 600 personal care and beauty brands, with the most recent addition of Maybelline, L'Oréal and Garnier. Growing exponentially since its inception, Trell has also recorded 10x-15x year-on-year growth and 30 per cent month-on-month growth on its transactions. It aims to create more than 40 million micro-entrepreneurs while aiming to cross 100 million monthly active users.