LatestOne.com plans to go global and aim to find themselves uniquely positioned in emerging economies

“We plan to go global and aim to find ourselves uniquely positioned in emerging economies, which is subject to funding”– Ameen
Khwaja, CEO & Founder, LatestOne.com

Ameen Khwaja, CEO & Founder, LatestOne.com

ST
Bureau: When did you decide to take the path of ‘entrepreneurship’ as your
career? Do you remember any special incident?

Ameen
Khwaja: By the time India was in its initial stage of
introduction to e-Commerce business, I had already ventured into digital
marketing and e-commerce industry in UK and USA. It was at this juncture I decided
to start my own e-commerce business in India. Me along with Mr. Palem Srikanth
Reddy started working on multiple ideas like saverable.com, bookinginn.com and
deals15.com in 2013. At this point in time, smart phone revolution had started
in India and the demand for mobile / tech accessories and gadgets was also on
the rise. Owing to the big market size and growth opportunity I decided to take
the idea of deals15.com forward. Subsequently the name was changed to www.latestone.com.
Palred Online Technologies Pvt Ltd which owns and operates www.latestone.com is
subsidiary of Palred Technologies Ltd, a public listed Company on NSE and BSE.

ST
Bureau: Can you briefly tell us more about your startup?

Ameen
Khwaja: LatestOne.com is an e-commerce business defined in the
category of specialty online retailers focused on tech & mobile
accessories. LatestOne.com owns a private label ‘PTron’. The range of products
on LatestOne.com include various types of cases for mobiles & tablets,
power banks, chargers, mini-PCs, blue tooth products and a large range of
cables including HDMI, VGA, Audio & Video cables. We receive 1.25 lac
visitors on our website every day, 4000 average orders per day and 10,000 plus
SKUs stocked at our 2 fulfillment centers in Delhi and Mumbai.

ST
Bureau: How big is your team at present?

Ameen
Khwaja: The current strength of the team is 160 at various
levels.

ST
Bureau: Did you get any funding for your startup? Are you planning to attract
funding in the near future?

Ameen
Khwaja: Yes, LatestOne.com has received a total fund of INR 50 crores.
Out of the total fund, INR 10 crores was Angel fund and INR 20 crores was
Series A. The remaining INR 20 crores was put into investment. We plan to raise
next round of funding in the near future.

ST
Bureau: What challenges do you face in your daily professional life?

Ameen
Khwaja: My biggest challenge is to minimize burn rate on daily
basis. I want LatestOne.com to be the first Indian e-commerce company to be
profitable.

ST
Bureau: How do you see yourself in next 2 years from now?

Ameen
Khwaja: LatestOne.com plans to achieve 5 lac users per day with
25,000 orders at an average order value of Rs.1000. We target an annual growth
of Rs. 1000 Crores, customer base of 1 crore, organic/direct/SEO orders at 25%.
We also aim to sell 25,000 products per day out of which 10,000 from our own
inventory and 15,000 from our fulfillment center through other vendors. We have
already registered an office in Turkey and we plan to go global and aim to find
ourselves uniquely positioned in emerging economies, which is subject to
funding.

ST
Bureau: What are your hobbies in your personal life? Which is your favorite
holiday destination?

Ameen
Khwaja: Since, my childhood I loved reading books which are
non-fictional like biographies. I personally feel reading is one the best
hobbies one could have. Whenever I get time I go online and read through
informative articles, blogs etc.

My favorite holiday destination is London.

Interviewed
by Startup Terminal Bureau

Tags: Interview