In the last decade, Iranian startups have entered the country’s business environment. Some of them have become valuable companies that have a very high profitability. The very important point is those very successful Iranian startups are a similar example of successful startups that cannot be active in Iran for various reasons. For example, Digi Kala, one of the most valuable Iranian startups, sells online products like Amazon. Other very successful Iranian startups have used the same formula. They have set up a successful company or business that is not present in Iran as an Iranian startup.
Of course, this should not make you think that all Iranian startups are a copy of foreign startups. Some Iranian startups have been formed with very creative ideas and they have been able to grow and succeed in the Iranian market. In another article, we will introduce the Iranian creative startups. We will continue to introduce five successful Iranian startups.
Like Uber, Snapp is an application for transportation services. Snapp was born in 2014 as the first online transportation service provider. The company’s monthly growth has been more than 100 percent since 2014. Snapp is active in 18 provinces of 31 provinces of Iran and aims to provide countrywide services throughout Iran.
There is a rumor that Snapp is the first Iranian Unicorn startup. Shahram Shahkar, the company’s chief executive, announced at a press conference the value of Snapp between 1.4 billion and 1.7 billion dollars.
But this evaluation is a guess based on daily trips made by Snapp and its comparison with the similar startups in the Asia and Middle-East. The main owner of the Snapp Company is Iran’s Internet Group. MTN and Irancell are among the shareholders of this group.
The strongest rival of Snapp in the Iranian market is Tap30, which is estimated at around $ 100 million.
DigiKala is an Iranian online store that can deliver goods across the country. In this store, you can buy any product (from electronics to cars and clothing) other than food. The company was founded in 2006 by Hamid and Saeed Mohammadi. The company has 2,600 staff in 2017.
At the start of its establishment, the website (Digikala.com) only analyzed digital gadgets (mobile, tablet, etc.). It then started to sell these products and now continues to sell a wide range of products. Currently, Digi Kala holds about 80% of Iran’s online retail market.
According to Alexa’s website statistics for the past year, after Google, Digi Kala’s website, with more than 500,000 daily views, was the second-most visited site in Iran. But now this site is ranked third among the most popular Iranian sites. Also, in a report published by the Washington Post in 2015, Digi Kala receives 3000 orders per day. But according to Saeed Mohammadi, one of the founders of the company, the company receives about 2000 orders per day.
In 2017, the Dutch International Internet Investment, Cooperatief, bought 21 percent of Digi Kala’s shares for $100 million. So it’s possible to estimate the value of Digi Kala for over $500 million.
Digi Kala’s closest rival in the Iranian market is Bamilo, with an estimated value of about $ 50 million.
The Cafe Bazaar is an Iranian market for smartphone apps. Cafe Bazaar is like Google Play and App Store. Cafe Bazaar was created in 2010 by a number of students at Sharif University. After Google Play and App Store set limitations for the Iranian user (from 2008 to 2014 due to United Nations sanctions against Iran), Cafe Bazaar introduced itself as a marketplace for Android applications in Iran and was able to achieve high growth in the marketplace.
In 2017, the value of the apps exchanged through Cafe Bazaar is estimated at $ 45 million. The net profit of the Cafe Bazaar this year was more than $ 10 million.
At the moment, Cafe Bazaar owns several more successful startups, including Divar. Cafe Bazaar and a set of companies owned by it are managed under the patronage of Hezar Dastan. This year, Dutch International Internet Investment Cooperatief invested $ 38 million in Cafe Bazaar and Divar by buying 10% of its stock. Therefore, since the value of ten percent of the stock is worth 38 million euros, it can be said that the value of the holding of Hezar Dastan is 380 million euros (460 million dollars).
Aparat is a video sharing website created in 2011. In fact, after the Iranian government imposed limitations to access websites like YouTube, Aparat started its activity as an Iranian prototype for YouTube. Four years after the start of the site, the Iranian presidential account was officially created on this site, which became the starting point for creating official user accounts on this site. In 2017, more than 2000 official accounts owned by natural and legal persons, businesses etc. has been active in the Aparat.
According to Alexa, Aparat is the most visited Iranian website after Google, with the most visitors among the Iranians. It is also among the 200 most popular websites in the world.
Divar is a website and application for sharing needs and second-hand online shopping and sales. In fact, this startup is the equivalent of eBay website in Iran. Divar was created by Cafe Bazaar in 2012 as an internet advertising platform and is owned by Cafe Bazaar.
Users can share their ads for free in Divar. One of the most popular sections in Divar is the ads for the housing and real estate sector. This part of Divar was so widely welcomed by the users, which prompted a massive objection from the real estate agencies.
Divar does not get any commission fees for exchanges made by users. Divar’s revenue plan is based on advertising and the costs that users can pay on an optional basis as in-app purchases. In 2017, the annual revenue of Divar was about $ 4 million. Taking into account the annual cost, the net income of Divar was about $ 2.000 million.
Divar is the first Iranian startup service to offer its services outside of Iran. Divar started its service in Afghanistan in 2016, and now users in the cities of Kabul, Herat, Kandahar and Mazar-e Sharif can use Divar to share their ads.
The main rival of Divar in Iranian market is Sheypoor. Unlike Divar, Sheypoor has not yet been profitable, but it has been able to achieve good growth by attracting investors, including a Russian company, last year.