Founders Everywhere: Hemanshu Jain
Hemanshu Jain is the co-founder & CEO of Khyaal, India's #1 App for senior citizens to engage, learn and have fun!
Welcome to Founders Everywhere, where we highlight the incredible people behind the companies we’ve backed at Everywhere Ventures, a global pre-seed fund supported by a community of 500 founders and operators.
Khyaal strives to foster a supportive community for seniors by providing a range of offerings including digital literacy training, engaging entertainment content, curated travel, financial services, and personalized assistance, all aimed at enhancing their physical, cognitive, emotional, and social well-being. Khyaal, which translates to 'providing care' or ‘keeping somebody in your thoughts’ in Hindi, reflects their dedication to serving senior citizens. With India's senior demographic projected to double from 149 million in 2022 to 347 million by 2050 (constituting 20.8% of the country's population), Khyaal is playing a crucial role in addressing the evolving needs of India's rapidly growing senior population.
Khyaal co-founder and CEO Hemanshu Jain is a serial entrepreneur and sold his last company, Diabeto Inc, to Livongo Health. He’s passionate about building for impact and always trying to solve real-life problems with the help of people, science and technology. He was inspired to create Khyaal after witnessing the challenges his father faced, particularly after his mother's passing. He realized there was a lack of support systems for seniors, especially in the digital landscape. He teamed up with co-founder Pritish Nelleri, who he had worked with previously on multiple marketing related projects. Together they built what is now India’s #1 App for senior citizens.
What is Khyaal’s North Star?
Khyaal’s North Star is to positively impact as many seniors as possible by addressing their social determinants of health. We address all the factors that contribute to their well-being and happiness. Through our platform, we offer daily events, workshops, and curated offerings like the Fintech prepaid card, loyalty points, concierge assistance, travel opportunities, and post-retirement job placements. Our goal is to provide seniors with a new sense of purpose and connection.
How does Khyaal inspire ‘customer love’?
The customer love that we get is phenomenal! We've received overwhelming support and gratitude from our senior users, with some even sending gifts or offering voluntary help to express their appreciation. There is such a fan following that seniors come and take selfies with our MCs, because they see them daily and it’s like having a celebrity come visit them. Seniors have shared stories of newfound friendships, enriching experiences on trips, and the joy they find in participating in Khyaal’s events and workshops. There have even been cases where children have figured out that their parents are on Khyaal and they posted about it on Twitter and LinkedIn.
What are some milestones that Khyaal has crushed.
We just announced our $4.2M seed raise.
We recently crossed 1 million seniors on the platform.
We won the Google Play Award for Best App for Good.
We were chosen for Google Play Apps to celebrate India’s diversity
What have been some of the greatest challenges founding Khyaal?
One of our main challenges has been the lack of data and precedents in our market, making it difficult to predict growth patterns and tailor strategies. Because we're essentially creating a new category, we have to rely on numerous micro experiments to determine what works best. This slower approach to growth may be challenging, but we believe it will lead to long-term success.
Additionally, understanding our senior customers and helping them navigate the digital landscape takes time, but once they're with us the stickiness is so high due to the high level of satisfaction.
How has your background influenced you as a founder?
I feel I'm destined to do this. Growing up, I witnessed my parents battle health issues; my dad was diagnosed with liver cirrhosis when I was in eighth grade, and my mom fought cancer until her passing in 2008. Throughout my life, I've been their caregiver, even while balancing school and college. Those in the hospital knew me by my name, and people often call me the "Khyaal Guy" because I take very good care of people. My upbringing has shaped me into who I am today, and I believe this path was meant for me. There's no greater purpose in life for me than serving and caring for others in need.
Fun fact: Some people like to call me “He-Man” and I was a big fan of his character as a kid. Because of that, I actually changed the spelling of my name from Himanshu to Hemanshu.
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