Not many Indian startups could achieve the feat, Sunil Vallath did when Exploride, Inc. the startup he founded 18 months ago raised half-a-million dollars in crowdfunding in September. His company sold 1,900 pieces of a futuristic hands-free display device for cars that combined music and GPS system to customers from 50 countries in 40 days, mainly from the US and UK.
“That validated our product,” said Sunil, 28, exuding confidence most product companies are unable to sport in such short time. “The product, christened Exploride Heads-up Display is a heads-up system that directs images to a transparent display screen,” he said. “It has gesture and voice recognition ability, and hence you can use your smart phone or radio without distraction.” Similar products are available in almost all high end cars.
“Such devices come in-built in cars that cost more than Rs 70 lakh but you can have the same thing for about Rs 30,000.” Sunil, a graduate in computer science from VV College for Science and Technology in Palakkad, had worked in Wipro as a system engineer in India and in some companies in the Gulf.
He hit upon the idea of developing the product after his wife Parvathy Sunil was involved in an accident, partly due to the use of smart phone. “I thought of developing a product that would reduce distractions and keep the occupants of a car safe,” he said. Interestingly, his wife, a management graduate, is at present the VP-operations at Exploride.
The device puts a car’s infotainment system, instrument cluster, navigation system and smart phone in one place on a transparent display so that the driver does not have to take his eyes off the road. It has GPS, LTE (a 4G mobile communications standard ten times faster than 3G) and Google maps that direct the driver through the best route, removing the need for a smart phone.
It might take an hour’s drive to your office in big cities and you cannot afford to keep off your smart phone for that duration. “This simple device gives you the option to use your smart phone without distraction,” he said.
The company has an office in Kochi and the US. “We are manufacturing the product in Taiwan, and the shipping and delivery will start in February next year,” he said. The company is now working on adding more safety and other features to the gadget.
The company is also planning to raise another $10 million in venture capital fund. “We will be investing more in R&D, and want to be the global leader in the space in which we operate,” he said.
