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As companies continue to adjust culture to engage millennials, it was only a matter of time before technology filled the gap.

The Giftxoxo founding team

Organisation are fast realising the importance of having a positive work environment. Because, unlike older generations, younger employees are always on the lookout for ways to make their professional life engaging and meaningful.

This has forced corporates and startups to constantly innovate on HR practises. As part of this, companies are focusing on building transparency, a culture of appreciation, and constant feedback.

For instance, there is a startup in Pune which follows a peculiar culture of welcoming new employees by offering bottles of beer. This startup also takes its entire staff to the cinema every weekend.

Now, technology is next in line to take over this space.

Bangalore-based Giftxoxo helps companies leverage gamification technology to keep the Millennial workforce happy and engaged. This startup provides a cloud platform, called XOXOEngage, for employee engagement, appreciation, and rewards and recognition (R&R). It can be integrated with the HR management system for any corporation, big or small.

Companies can use XOXOEngage to appreciate employees with reward points for various milestones like monthly awards, spot rewards, birthdays, anniversaries etc. They can also encourage fitness for their employees with its wellness modules and also integrate the system with third-party apps and email plugins.

“We build the culture of appreciation in companies and provide a unique reward catalog in the form of exclusive experiences and activities which are handpicked from over 1,000 vendors across India and globally. We also provide an option to redeem the points on utilities and gift vouchers,” says Manoj Agarwal, who co-founded the company in 2012, along with Sumit Khandelwal, Abhishek Kumar and Kushal Agarwal.

XOXOEngage has a large collection of experiences spread across six categories – adventure, gourmet, health and wellness, tours and getaways, arts and learning, plus, philanthropy. Some examples are flying a microlight plane, enjoying a tour of Bollywood, going horseback riding, dining on a yacht and taking a pottery class.

Giftxoxo has multiple revenue streams. While it charges companies for its SaaS platform, it also earns commission from its experience and gift cards. On the consumer side, it makes money through commissions on experiences and activities.

With over 120 staff workers, the company is working with over 650 clients in India and overseas, and has over 2.5 million B2B2C consumers. With about 10 per cent of its overall revenues coming from overseas clients, the firm is now actively working on markets outside of India.

“We have iterated over the last four years to build a competitive and sustainable business model. Our focus has always been around unit economics and building a product which meets a real business need rather than a push through discounts. We have been very innovative in every small thing we do and this spirit of innovation has helped us save millions of dollars in marketing, technology etc,” Agarwal says.

Giftxoxo claims to have bagged major MNCs, and generated a revenue of INR 40 crore (US$6 million) in 2016. It targets INR 100 crore (US$15 million) in revenue for 2017.

The firm recently launched a mobile app called Frogo. Using the app, one can search and book microlight flying, candle light dinner, salsa dance session, spa session and many other activities near you with just a few clicks.

Bootstrapped till date, the firm plans to raise its first institutional funding this year.

“We are looking to use this money to hire good talent, create better market awareness and build a strong technology product.”

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