TrueCaller: India is Our Biggest Market

Alan Mamedi founded Truecaller with Nami Zarringhalam in 2009 in Stockholm, Sweden. The app, which has its biggest base in India with 29 million users, identifies phone numbers that aren't saved in users' phonebooks. They have over 45 million users worldwide. Truecaller received its second round of funding for $18.8 million, led by Sequoia Capital's Indian arm.

IndiatimesUpdated: Apr 15, 2014, 16:00 IST
TrueCaller

Alan Mamedi founded Truecaller with Nami Zarringhalam in 2009 in Stockholm, Sweden. The app, which has its biggest base in India with 29 million users, identifies phone numbers that aren't saved in users' phonebooks. They have over 45 million users worldwide. Truecaller received its second round of funding for $18.8 million, led by Sequoia Capital's Indian arm.

TrueCaller

How did the idea for Truecaller come about?

Back in 2009, my co-founder Nami and I would receive a lot of phone calls, from friends and for work. For us the big challenge was to know who is calling. If I'm in a meeting, how do I know this call is important? We thought, let's do something crazy. Let's build the world's largest phone directory. So the idea came from our own need. My background is in engineering. We actually built the app ourselves, the coding and everything.

There have been several privacy concerns with Truecaller harvesting users' phonebooks to build its directory.

We've been very transparent with our users from day one. We always say that as default, everything is disabled or we put the permission levels at the highest. It is also important to understand that...for example if you search for Alan by entering my name, you won't get my number. But if you enter my number, you will get the information that we have. On the other hand, you can just call me because you have my number. To add, if you download Truecaller from Google Play or iPhone app store, we do not crowdsource phone numbers. However, any user can tag information.

If you are not crowdsourcing, then how do people's nicknames show up?

So, the crowdsourcing comes from other platforms other than iOS and Google Play. And a majority of our users are on those platforms like Windows phone or Blackberry. But the sourcing is always disabled by default. You have to set it to "enhanced" for the app to access your phonebook. Any user can disable it and take all the information out. For users whose information might be displayed as nicknames, I urge them to unlist their number. What we have seen is, it is more important to actually be visible than not be visible. Because it gives you credibility.

The Syrian Electronic Army attack on your website last year raised a lot of concerns. How have you secured your data?

This happened a year ago. It was unfortunate. They were able to enter the website, which is completely isolated. The database is in a different place. We were using Wordpress as our website architecture, and unfortunately it wasn't good enough. We learned a big lesson. It is important to understand that it's a public website but the data is completely separate. It's on private IPs. We host our servers ourselves in Sweden, it's not in some cloud-based service where you don't know where your data is. We have a big server hall that is locked down. There are only a few people at Truecaller office who can access these machines and everything is isolated in that sense.

You also have "directory partners" in certain countries. Who are your directory partners in India?

In India we don't have any partners yet. We do partner with Yelp, but not in India. We've been partnering with lots of different yellow pages and white pages in markets where it is available and of course, there are some great companies in India which we're looking into and see how it works. I can't go into details.

__PAGEBREAK__

TrueCaller

How big is the Indian market for you? How does it compare with the others?

India is our biggest market with 29 million users. Half of our userbase is here. We see India as a very important market in terms of product development. It is important to understand the culture and be one step ahead. Spam calls are a huge issue in India. Today we block more than 2 million spam calls a day in India only.

In Sweden we have one million users. But the population is nine million. In Lebanon, we have three million users, but the population in four million. That's what makes the Indian market so exciting. You can go to any subscriber and they will have more than 100 million subscribers. If you go to Sweden, they'll have maybe one million. We're market leaders in the middle-east and Africa. But not many places have the kind of population as India.

What about staff from India?

We have a team of 40 full time people and 30 part time. Most of them are in Sweden. We have one person here in Delhi working on business development with Indian mobile phone manufacturers like Micromax, Gionee and Karbonn etc. We have three people from India working in Stockholm, Sweden. There are Tanu and Anita who on the testing team and Anju on the backend development side.

What happens to phone numbers that are saved in a script other than Roman?

We don't support that. For sure it's on the cards. It's a quick fix. Since we haven't supported it, we've always wondered if it's a big issue. We haven't prioritised it. I'll make sure we fix it (smiles).

Back in Sweden, the startup scene is very vibrant. How do you feel about the Indian tech startup scene?

I have seen a lot of companies that have become very successful but haven't really been identified as Indian companies. Like, there is a company called Etc which has been written about a lot. When Siri came out, there was an app called Iris that went viral but no one knew it was an Indian company. I've seen some great experience sharing from Vishal Gondal. Look at Pulse, it is by two guys from India studying for their masters in the US.

But we don't see the same level of buzz like, say, Candy Crush that came out of Sweden. What works in Sweden?

I think you will face the same kind of challenges everywhere. I've spoken to some entrepreneurs in India and I've come to understand that there are some regulation issues in India which makes it difficult for entrepreneurs to start a company or even rent an office. We have the same kind of challenges in Sweden but obviously not at the same level as here.

Have there been any acquisition offers?

Nah. I don't really care about these things. If I receive an offer, I would say we're not for sale. Because we're not. The journey has just started. Even if I were forced into selling the company, I would start crying because I love what I do. We're here to build something really cool.

22/11/2024 23:21:1
seductrice.net
universo-virtual.com
buytrendz.net
thisforall.net
benchpressgains.com
qthzb.com
mindhunter9.com
dwjqp1.com
secure-signup.net
ahaayy.com
tressesindia.com
puresybian.com
krpano-chs.com
cre8workshop.com
hdkino.org
peixun021.com
qz786.com
utahperformingartscenter.org
worldqrmconference.com
shangyuwh.com
eejssdfsdfdfjsd.com
playminecraftfreeonline.com
trekvietnamtour.com
your-business-articles.com
essaywritingservice10.com
hindusamaaj.com
joggingvideo.com
wandercoups.com
wormblaster.net
tongchengchuyange0004.com
internetknowing.com
breachurch.com
peachesnginburlesque.com
dataarchitectoo.com
clientfunnelformula.com
30pps.com
cherylroll.com
ks2252.com
prowp.net
webmanicura.com
sofietsshotel.com
facetorch.com
nylawyerreview.com
apapromotions.com
shareparelli.com
goeaglepointe.com
thegreenmanpubphuket.com
karotorossian.com
publicsensor.com
taiwandefence.com
epcsur.com
mfhoudan.com
southstills.com
tvtv98.com
thewellington-hotel.com
bccaipiao.com
colectoresindustrialesgs.com
shenanddcg.com
capriartfilmfestival.com
replicabreitlingsale.com
thaiamarinnewtoncorner.com
gkmcww.com
mbnkbj.com
andrewbrennandesign.com
cod54.com
luobinzhang.com
faithfirst.net
zjyc28.com
tongchengjinyeyouyue0004.com
nhuan6.com
kftz5k.com
oldgardensflowers.com
lightupthefloor.com
bahamamamas-stjohns.com
ly2818.com
905onthebay.com
fonemenu.com
notanothermovie.com
ukrainehighclassescort.com
meincmagazine.com
av-5858.com
yallerdawg.com
donkeythemovie.com
corporatehospitalitygroup.com
boboyy88.com
miteinander-lernen.com
dannayconsulting.com
officialtomsshoesoutletstore.com
forsale-amoxil-amoxicillin.net
generictadalafil-canada.net
guitarlessonseastlondon.com
lesliesrestaurants.com
mattyno9.com
nri-homeloans.com
rtgvisas-qatar.com
salbutamolventolinonline.net
sportsinjuries.info
wedsna.com
rgkntk.com
bkkmarketplace.com
zxqcwx.com
breakupprogram.com
boxcardc.com
unblockyoutubeindonesia.com
fabulousbookmark.com
beat-the.com
guatemala-sailfishing-vacations-charters.com
magie-marketing.com
kingstonliteracy.com
guitaraffinity.com
eurelookinggoodapparel.com
howtolosecheekfat.net
marioncma.org
oliviadavismusic.com
shantelcampbellrealestate.com
shopleborn13.com
topindiafree.com
v-visitors.net
djjky.com
053hh.com
originbluei.com
baucishotel.com
33kkn.com
intrinsiqresearch.com
mariaescort-kiev.com
mymaguk.com
sponsored4u.com
crimsonclass.com
bataillenavale.com
searchtile.com
ze-stribrnych-struh.com
zenithalhype.com
modalpkv.com
bouisset-lafforgue.com
useupload.com
37r.net
autoankauf-muenster.com
bantinbongda.net
bilgius.com
brabustermagazine.com
indigrow.org
miicrosofts.net
mysmiletravel.com
selinasims.com
spellcubesapp.com
usa-faction.com
hypoallergenicdogsnames.com
dailyupdatez.com
foodphotographyreviews.com
cricutcom-setup.com
chprowebdesign.com
katyrealty-kanepa.com
tasramar.com
bilgipinari.org
four-am.com
indiarepublicday.com
inquick-enbooks.com
iracmpi.com
kakaschoenen.com
lsm99flash.com
nana1255.com
ngen-niagara.com
technwzs.com
virtualonlinecasino1345.com
wallpapertop.net
casino-natali.com
iprofit-internet.com
denochemexicana.com
eventhalfkg.com
medcon-taiwan.com
life-himawari.com
myriamshomes.com
nightmarevue.com
healthandfitnesslives.com
androidnews-jp.com
allstarsru.com
bestofthebuckeyestate.com
bestofthefirststate.com
bestwireless7.com
britsmile.com
declarationintermittent.com
findhereall.com
jingyou888.com
lsm99deal.com
lsm99galaxy.com
moozatech.com
nuagh.com
patliyo.com
philomenamagikz.net
rckouba.net
saturnunipessoallda.com
tallahasseefrolics.com
thematurehardcore.net
totalenvironment-inthatquietearth.com
velislavakaymakanova.com
vermontenergetic.com
kakakpintar.com
jerusalemdispatch.com
begorgeouslady.com
1800birks4u.com
2wheelstogo.com
6strip4you.com
bigdata-world.net
emailandco.net
gacapal.com
jharpost.com
krishnaastro.com
lsm99credit.com
mascalzonicampani.com
sitemapxml.org
thecityslums.net
topagh.com
flairnetwebdesign.com
rajasthancarservices.com
bangkaeair.com
beneventocoupon.com
noternet.org
oqtive.com
smilebrightrx.com
decollage-etiquette.com
1millionbestdownloads.com
7658.info
bidbass.com
devlopworldtech.com
digitalmarketingrajkot.com
fluginfo.net
naqlafshk.com
passion-decouverte.com
playsirius.com
spacceleratorintl.com
stikyballs.com
top10way.com
yokidsyogurt.com
zszyhl.com
16firthcrescent.com
abogadolaboralistamd.com
apk2wap.com
aromacremeria.com
banparacard.com
bosmanraws.com
businessproviderblog.com
caltonosa.com
calvaryrevivalchurch.org
chastenedsoulwithabrokenheart.com
cheminotsgardcevennes.com
cooksspot.com
cqxzpt.com
deesywig.com
deltacartoonmaps.com
despixelsetdeshommes.com
duocoracaobrasileiro.com
fareshopbd.com
goodpainspills.com
hemendekor.com
kobisitecdn.com
makaigoods.com
mgs1454.com
piccadillyresidences.com
radiolaondafresca.com
rubendorf.com
searchengineimprov.com
sellmyhrvahome.com
shugahouseessentials.com
sonihullquad.com
subtractkilos.com
valeriekelmansky.com
vipasdigitalmarketing.com
voolivrerj.com
worldhealthstory.com
zeelonggroup.com
1015southrockhill.com
10x10b.com
111-online-casinos.com
191cb.com
3665arpentunitd.com
aitesonics.com
bag-shokunin.com
brightotech.com
communication-digitale-services.com
covoakland.org
dariaprimapack.com
freefortniteaccountss.com
gatebizglobal.com
global1entertainmentnews.com
greatytene.com
hiroshiwakita.com
iktodaypk.com
jahatsakong.com
meadowbrookgolfgroup.com
newsbharati.net
platinumstudiosdesign.com
slotxogamesplay.com
strikestaruk.com
techguroh.com
trucosdefortnite.com
ufabetrune.com
weddedtowhitmore.com
12940brycecanyonunitb.com
1311dietrichoaks.com
2monarchtraceunit303.com
601legendhill.com
850elaine.com
adieusolasomade.com
andora-ke.com
bestslotxogames.com
cannagomcallen.com
endlesslyhot.com
iestpjva.com
ouqprint.com
pwmaplefest.com
qtylmr.com
rb88betting.com
buscadogues.com
1007macfm.com
born-wild.com
growthinvests.com
promocode-casino.com
proyectogalgoargentina.com
wbthompson-art.com
whitemountainwheels.com
7thavehvl.com
developmethis.com
funkydogbowties.com
travelodgegrandjunction.com
gao-town.com
globalmarketsuite.com
blogshippo.com
hdbka.com
proboards67.com
outletonline-michaelkors.com
kalkis-research.com
thuthuatit.net
buckcash.com
hollistercanada.com
docterror.com
asadart.com
vmayke.org
erwincomputers.com
dirimart.org
okkii.com
loteriasdecehegin.com
mountanalog.com
healingtaobritain.com
ttxmonitor.com
nwordpress.com
11bolabonanza.com