Bundlhub – bundling castoffs into cash
Thikshan Arulampalam (left) and Rangana Samarasinghe
It’s been a few months since your wedding and that steam iron your aunt gave you is still pining away, yet to be used. The used ice cream set that seemed like a great idea at the time when it was a Christmas present by your in-laws has joined the darkest recesses of the pantry cupboard. What about that beautiful but ill-fitting blouse that you bought from a sale that’s still on a hanger in the almirah, hanging beside your long-lamented skinny jeans?
While it’s the thought that counts when these gifts are received, having unused items sitting at home does nobody any favours – it just creates more junk.
So what can you do with them? There are plenty of people out there who’d appreciate those things you no longer use. But how do you connect with them?
Here’s a thought. The answer could be right at your fingertips: just hit Bundlhub on Google.
A new start-up called Bundlhub plans to improve the online marketplace for swapping, selling and donating of unnecessary or used goods.
How this idea was conceived was when Rangana Samarasinghe, President/CEO Insharp Technologies, a software firm that he founded, thought about swapping i-phones with android phones. “There’re those who want android phones for testing. This is when I thought about why not swap these phones by connecting with the related/interested parties but there was no platform for this in Sri Lanka, while there’re good markets in the US for this type of things which I found,” says Mr. Samarasinghe to the Business Times. This was three years ago.
“But in the US phones are literally free. There are phones that are purchased on contracts,” Thikshan Arulampalam, co-founder and CEO of Bundlhub (who was also a DJ amongst all sorts of other things) says joining the discussion.
As it happens to almost all start-ups, Mr. Samarasinghe was introduced to Mr. Arulampalam by common friends. “In a world where anything you could ever want is only one click away, it can often be overwhelming when we find ourselves surrounded with years of goods that we no longer have a use for,” Mr. Arulampalam says.
He had seen furniture on the road discarded every six months in New York and that had given him an idea.
Makings of bundlehub
“These are essentially required by students, immigrants and low income households. So, we decided to replace phones with these items.” From then onwards this was their ‘thing’.
The two entrepreneurs, now selling used items online, had participated at a networking session for startups at the Petronas Towers in Malaysia. This was a turning point.
Just before checking into the airport for a return flight to Colombo after this event, they met Datuk Noor Azrin bin Mohd Noor, CEO of SEDANIA Group (a mobile service enabler) in Malaysia who liked everything about this concept – down to the way the two guys were dressed in jeans and shirts – but didn’t like the name they had come up with. “He’s the one who suggested calling this ‘bundle’. Then we made two calls – on to Sri Lanka and one to New York to find out if this was registered,” says Mr. Arulampalam adding that the next day at Rangana’s office, ‘Bundlhub’ without the ‘e’ was born.
With the rise of e-commerce, cashless payments and use of new technology, our lives are less complicated. The increase of web stores has helped make a change in the growth of e-commerce in Sri Lanka. Web stores are perfect for buyers to purchase new products they really need. But what about products that they do not need and has been stacked up at home for years?
Bundlhub, is Sri Lanka’s answer to Craiglist, an American classified advertisements website that provides local classifieds and forums for jobs, housing, for sale, personals, services, local community, and events.
The trend for joint consumption that is rising today, whereby technology is used to aid the borrowing, sharing, lending, renting and swapping of goods and services, which will become more pronounced, analysts say. New business models are appearing that will have a profound influence across the e-commerce and wider retail value chain.
“While it’s often fairly simple to acquire all of these things, it’s typically quite cumbersome to swap, sell, or donate our unwanted or unused goods,” Mr. Arulampalam says. This is where online avenues such as bundlhub offer consumers a way to swap or sell their items.
iOS version
Last year they went to GITEX (“Gulf Information Technology Exhibition”), an annual consumer computer and electronics trade show, exhibition and conference, and launched their iOS version of the platform.
The Bundlhub application is also available via , Googls Play, or web portal that provides users with a platform that facilitates the exchange of goods.
Last year the duo participated at Europe’s leading start-up event, held on November 30–December 1 in Helsinki called Slush that connects start-ups and tech talent with top-tier international investors, executives and media. “It was like a rock show. So for a former DJ, being there was just awesome,” Mr. Arulampalam smiles. Here they met a lady who is an accelerator, one who assists to “accelerate” growth of an existing company (they offer programmes that include mentorship and educational components and culminate in a public pitch event or demo day) and after exchanging ‘hellos’, she was wondering why ‘Bundlhub’ hasn’t done anything in Colombo.
Chips in Mr. Arulampalam, “The disparity in income locally warrants a way to pass things to those in need and here’s a mechanism to do it.”
At the same pace as changing technology, consumer behaviours and expectations are evolving, says Mr. Samarasinghe. “This grants breadth to Bundlhub.”
Mr. Arulampalam adds that start-ups are hard, but that’s nothing new. “What is interesting — start-ups can be hard in so many different ways. Data has it that 40 per cent of young people want to be their own bosses someday? That’s a lot of aspiring entrepreneurs. So that’s a start to a start-up.”