Gurugram based tech startup Arista Vault innovatively integrates technology with wallets and bags to provide wealth and data security with a ‘Made-in-India’ sleek touch.
What may happen when a person loses his wallet? As unthinkable as it may sound, a data and wealth security company may come up. And that’s the origin story of Arista Vault, a 2017-born Indian startup. Retired Army Col. K.K. Singh onboarded designer Purvi Roy and the wallet-loss victim and finance guy Atul Gupta to launch this venture to create something unusual in India. The startup designs and develops smart wallets laced with embedded chips and signature circuit designs to prevent its loss.
Arista, in Sanskrit, means unhurt. “We are dedicated to the safety and security of the common people so that when they hustle, they don’t lose things. Features like loss alarm and location tracking are all embedded in the slim and user-friendly wallet made with design-engineered leather,” said Purvi.
Reportedly, 2.5 million mobile phones and wallets get lost each year in India. Arista Vault surveyed Delhi Metro and Mumbai locals to test the waters and got an affirmative public response to bring a security mechanism for their money, IDs, and other valuables.
In the beginning, the prototype of their entire Internet of Things (IoT)-enabled mechanism was big and bulky. But the dedicated R&D team, which Purvi considers to be the company’s USP, came up with a compact circuit design and schematics, making the final product look sleek from the outside but implanted with a lot of technology inside. The company claims that its average wallet weighs around 120gm and has a 3-year-long in-built battery life. But those with a mobile charge feature need charging. The pricing of these smart wallets starts at ₹1,200 and goes up to ₹7,000.
The Classic Wallet of Arista Vault has a power button which activates the features like anti-loss, anti-theft, distance tracking, and location tracking. Interestingly, the wallet has a mobile charging feature as well. “The Classic Wallet comes with a 3,000mAh power battery, which remains charged for around three days continuously, after which it needs charging,” mentions Purvi.
Wallet-Bot Classic
The company, which identifies itself as India’s first to introduce a smart luggage range, got its first funding and support from the Ministry of Electronics & Information Technology (MeitY) in 2019, with the Electropreneur Park providing all the infrastructure support to their budding entrepreneurial journey. It recently got major funding from Germany based angel investors and UK based venture capitalists. The company prefers interns over experienced employees for tech, marketing, and designing domains and provides proper training to them.
Housing numerous smart product companies, the US provides the toughest competition to this Made-in-India company. Being a woman adds more to the trouble of entrepreneurship. Purvi feels that women have to prove their mettle in the industry before people take them seriously. She believes Indian companies should hire designers for their tech products because that creates a significant first impression on people’s minds.
Arista Vault has its corporate office in Gurugram near Delhi and an outlet in Goa, but it majorly sells its products online and in the B2B market. Finding it tough to sell its products even in the local market in its initial days, the company recently got a call from Amazon to place its product in the US warehouses.
“The Gulf market has been our silver lining during the pandemic. Now, we want to cover 11 major countries globally,” says Ruchi, while also wanting to unveil Arista Vault’s experience centres in India soon. The startup is also building distributor channels to expand the reach of their smart wallets and luggage.
Arista Vault plans to launch 5G and LoRa technology-enabled products in the coming years. Noting the company’s near-future plans, Ruchi disclosed, “We’re coming up with 15 more products related to the personal safety of women, work efficiency, health, and lifestyle.”
