The New Trendwatcher in Town Arnav Kishore, 29, Founder & CEO, FireBoltt

Entrepreneurship runs in the family of Arnav Kishore. Almost everyone in his family has this entrepreneurial zest of doing something of their own. His father is also a seasoned entrepreneur, who has been instrumental in bringing brands like Nike and Lotto to India. He and his sister Aayushi (who is also the other Co-founder), grew up watching their father and learned so many lessons about entrepreneurship from him. In 2015, Aayushi and Arnav both co-founded Boltt. Talking about the idea behind Boltt, Kishore claims, "Being an athlete, I always had a passion to create something futuristic and unique for sportsmen and fitness enthusiasts. Combining my passion for sports, technology, and entrepreneurship, I am now exploring the world of wearable technology and heading Fire-Boltt, an innovative wearable tech company, with the ambition to transform health, fitness, and sports."

Prior to this, he came up with the idea of a smart shoe paired with Garmin that would track the user's vitals while running/working out. Though the idea did not take off, it laid the foundation for Boltt. Keeping this in mind, he started developing strong in-house capabilities, innovative product offerings, and technological superiority in the budget category. The brand has come up with over 70 smartwatches in the last 12 months and is soon launching its first Smartwatch in Outdoor Series.

Delving into details on the clientele, Kishore says, "We have served around 15 million customers so far. Our major clientele is Gen Z and Millennials between the age of 18 to 30 years out of which 90% are men." Fire-Boltt intends to sell 12 million units (MU) in FY23, a 380% increase from the total of 2.5 MU it sold in FY22. To attain this, it has already entered the UAE market and recently expanded its wings in South East Asia Market. Going forward, they will venture into the Singapore and Vietnam markets through a partnership with SmartechSG Pte. as part of Phase I of its expansion plans. Later, it plans to enter the US and Europe markets soon. Kishore concludes by saying, "We are one of the most profitable companies among the bootstrapped startups in our industry. We are maintaining healthy gross margins and EBITDA."

Factsheet

Year of inception of the company: 2015

Number of employees: 180+