OneCode is an app that connects companies with sales agents, giving these agents access to sell the products and services to less tech-savvy buyers. The startup’s mission is to digitise 50 million sales agents across India, and bridge the gap between brands and potential buyers who may need in-person interactions and physical touch points before committing to a purchase.
The size of India’s population and demographic distribution has often meant that many businesses in the country rely on an agent network to raise awareness of a product, and to get it into the hands of consumers. Many buyers often look for recommendations from someone close or familiar to them before making their purchase decision. The OneCode platform helps brands solve this problem with their outsourced sales army and, in the process, enables people in Tier-2 and Tier-3 cities to become part-time salespeople with a steady side income.
The platform works with a variety of financial institutions, such as banks, as well as discount brokers and credit card companies, like Upstox and RedCarpet. By using technology to mobilise this agent network, companies are able to distribute tasks to agents on the ground and increase sales in areas they might not have a presence in. On top of providing sales agents with access to relevant products and services, and the chance to earn money through these sales, OneCode also gives them visibility over their earnings through a portal, where they can track how much they have earned, and how much is pending or owed to them. The platform also provides agents with sales training through interactive videos.
OneCode was founded in Bangalore in March 2019 by Manish Shara and Yash Desai. Manish is a computer science graduate from Rajasthan University who previously founded and sold two startups. He and Yash worked together at Dineout, where Manish led the product department and Yash, who has an MBA from San Francisco’s Hult International Business School, was a business head.
*Angel Investors: Aakrit Vaish, Amrish Rau, Anand Chandrasekaran, Arjun Vaidya, Ashish Dave, Gaurav Munjal, Harshil Mathur, Jitendra Gupta, Kunal Shah, Lalit Keshre, Miten Sampat, Pankaj Naik, Pravin Jadhav, Sweta Rau, and Varun Mittal