A shot at success

It took over 15 years for Dhiraj Kacker and Peeyush Rai to realise their dream. A dream that rested on the other side of the camera lens and resulted in the birth of Canvera Digital Technologies — India’s fastest growing online digital photography company.
A fledgling company, just two years old, Canvera that started with a funding of $ 2 million, is helping thousands bring memories to life. From customised coffee table books to calendars and fashion and industrial portfolios, Canvera does it all. Supported by funding organisations such as Footprint Ventures, Draper Fisher Jurvetson and Mumbai Angels, the company’s USP is in the fast delivery of the finished product.
Says Bengaluru-based CEO Kacker, “After the order is placed, it takes us anywhere between 24 to 48 hours to deliver the product to the customer.’’
Alumni of IIT-Powai, Kacker and Rai say that despite the market scenario, Canvera is registering a monthly growth rate of around 25 per cent. In fact the company was honoured with the prestigious HP Award for the Best Photobook at the Asia Pacific and Japan HP Digital Print Awards 2008 in Singapore — an award instituted to recognise outstanding achievements and innovations in print and packaging across Asia.
The only start-up to have achieved such a feat in the first year of operations, Kacker said, “This is just the beginning and Canvera will continue to bring innovation and excellence into the digital imaging domain.”
So, what made the duo think of this particular idea? Says Kacker, “I guess because I’ve worked in the digital imaging domain for over 17 years.’’ With a PhD in electrical engineering from Purdue University where he specialised in image processing, Kacker also worked at Shutterfly, USA, an Internet-based social expression and personal publishing service that enables consumers to share, print and preserve their memories by leveraging its technology-based platform and manufacturing processes — “a format very similar to Canvera,’’ says Kacker.
Of course it helped that Rai, who is the Chief Technology Officer at Canvera is a veteran of the software industry having built enterprise-level software products for some leading software multinationals such as Oracle, Centrata, Euclid etc.
The duo’s venture is largely a B2SMB (business to small and medium business), dealing with standalone photographers. And their aim is to create the world’s best digital imaging products and services to serve the Indian market.
“Our major business currently comes from the metros, but we do expect it to shift it to Tier-II and Tier-III cities where there is great scope as people are very interested in photography and keen to translate their work into photographic albums,” believes Rai.
Currently operational in Delhi, Bengaluru, Hyderabad and Chennai, Canvera is certainly slated to expand to other cities as well — but not just yet. “Though there is no shortage of funds, we simply believe this is the time to weigh the pros and cons, consolidate and make our decisions wisely,” signs off Rai.