Come summer and the value of water becomes paramount. Making this season endurable, in terms of access to drinking water, is ThinkPure. This water delivery app, which currently caters to 60 areas in Hyderabad, experienced a slow start back in 2016, but now the officials from Bailley (Parle Agro’s mineral water brand) are approaching them to scale-up in Vizag and Kurnool. They are already delivering brands like Bailley and V5 Water, a local option, throughout Hyderabad, and are also delivering Bisleri, Aquafina, Kinley and more — in PET bottles and 20-25 litre cans — in certain areas. The app is planning to expand to around 150 areas by the end of April.
For Sirish Manthena, the 24-year-old project manager of ThinkPure, a slow start clearly isn’t a setback. Since their pilot project in Srinagar Colony, Hyderabad in May 2016, Sirish and a teammate have been constantly upgrading their software. They were partially supported by ThinkTankers Innovative Solutions Private Limited’s (their parent company) technical team and together they created a master administration portal for statistics like supply chain management, a separate app for the delivery boys, and the principal ThinkPure app, which newly features live tracking.
“The main reason we couldn’t be more aggressive with the marketing was because we wanted to be strong in terms of software,” says the Civil Engineering graduate from Muffakham Jah College of Engineering and Technology, Hyderabad. Now, they are looking for more hands to help them expand into other cities.
Sirish explains that there is a market for the local brands of water in spite of the existence of well-known brands, and its main market are corporates — not just companies, but from restaurants and hotels to function halls and hostels. “Water from the local brand is safe and filtered, just like other brands; the only difference is that it doesn’t have added minerals,” he explains, adding, “Many hotels buy water cans from the local brand to cook with and buy PET bottles for the tables.”
The latest feature to be introduced is the ‘reorder’, which lists the user’s default order, making water “literally, a click away,” quips Sirish, who also handles operations at ThinkTankers. With the desire to implement suggestions by the app’s users, ThinkPure is looking into tying up with the Hyderabad Metropolitan Water Works Service to supply water tankers soon. Meanwhile, they are trying to integrate the app with Paytm Wallet and have recently rolled out the feature of rating every delivery. Sirish informs us of another app, ThinkLPG, which delivers gas cylinders, but it currently caters only commercially.
