Finding people with similar interests isn't that simple. Finding people with a similar passion that matches with similar aspirations is even tougher. Most of us feel that way. But this wasn't with Nandha Kumar and Prabhakar Mohan, Co-Founders of Zypher. The duo met when they were working out of the same coworking space in Bangalore. An ex-Accenture guy, Nandha is a voracious reader, and he had the quest to start something of his own, something connected to reading, and Prabhakar was an engineering dropout who worked as a freelance marketer. A conversation at 91springboard lead to the seeding of an idea and the duo decided to go ahead and create a Netflix for books. Despite the proliferation of eBooks and a flourishing second-hand book market in Bangalore, the costs associated with reading was high. This is when Zypher an online book rental platform entered the B2B market and signed 91springboard as its first client. It aims to provide people with books of their choice on a rental basis at their doorsteps. Today, Zypher cater services to the B2C market as well and one third of its users are paid subscribers. It has access to over 25,000 books and owns 7,000+ books. "We are witnessing an average of 50 signups every week without the help of any marketing activities. Most of this traction is through

word-of-mouth. Prabhakar, CMO, is working on bringing more partners into the fray. We have even tied up with security management solutions that enable us to set up libraries in apartment complexes," says Nandha.

Zypher has a strong development team that is working on a lot of new features

Zypher works on an asset light model where most of the books are with the users. It avoids capital costs on books as it procures directly from publishers and returns them when they aren't in use. The book renting facility is available to both individual and corporate users. They pay based on their usage (pay-as-you-go model) through which they avail free delivery and unlimited swapping benefits. And for business, the employees sign up and avail the same benefits, but the cost is borne by the employer. Zypher also creates a book club exclusively for the company so that they have a healthy discussion. It also sends book recommendations based on their domain to upskill themselves. It not only helps corporate clients with a remote library service for its employees but also sets up a library in your office. Reading space is created in the office where Zypher keeps books for anyone who wants to read in the office itself. Apart from setting up libraries for corporations, the company extends its service to cafes, restaurants, and premium hotels. Some of its clients are Zoomcar, Amazon, WeWork, Cowrks, 91springboard, Oyo-Innov8, and more. BFSI, pharmaceuticals, and research oriented organizations get trade journals, magazines related to their business and publications and more.

Zypher has a strong development team that is working on a lot of new features. One of the most attractive features is the recommendation engine which sends books based on user's interests. They connect with the readers on the app, exchange ideas, and share thoughts. The team is also planning on adding authors to the platform so that the readers can interact with them directly. While the platform is still in its infancy, the team is doing its best to keep it as seamless and smooth as possible for its users. "With other plans in the pipeline we are planning to go phygital very shortly. We are also planning to cater to regional language readers. We even want to extend our physical book offerings to eBooks, audiobooks, and add a service where we send short summaries of select books," he concludes.