Edutapxr, a startup that uses Augmented and Virtual Reality to create a unique experience in education and art

• ByStartupStory     |    November 1, 2022

“We were thinking about a company that could create a product making people’s life easier,” said Abhijit Sarkar, the co-founder, and CEO of Edutapxr, in an exclusive interview with Startup Story, while stating his motto behind the company.

The year 2020 took a toll on every industry and individual. People started working from home for the first time, and it is during this period that Abhijit and his colleagues came up with the innovative idea of Edutapxr. That is when four people – Abhijit Sarkar, Amit Kumar Singh, Ashwal CS, and Pampi Paul Sarkar, came together and imagined a complete product-based company that focuses primarily on immersive and upcoming technologies, like – blockchain, metaverse, and provides a sustainable product to the market.

Education combined with XR, i.e., the extended reality, is how the brand name originated, the core department being virtual and augmented reality. Edutapxr is concentrated on AR, i.e., Augmented Reality, VR, i.e., Virtual Reality, and MR, i.e., Mixed Reality. Their two main products branch into – the education sector and D2C (direct to the customer) in the arts and craft sector. 

Industry and market dynamics – an overview

The Indian market has grown rapidly over the past decade. The startup ecosystem in our country is one of the highest-grossing in the world. A lot of young entrepreneurs are emerging into the market with innovative and brilliant ideas. 

Today everyone is familiar with virtual reality, to a lesser or greater extent. But even with all the usage of science and technology, only the external surface of the realm of virtual or augmented reality has been scratched. Edutapxr aims to delve deeper into the realm and give its customers a sustainable product. They aim to create products to facilitate training, such as in automobiles. Abhijit gives a personal anecdote while discussing their intent, “ I was traveling from Delhi to Kolkata, and I noticed that training for firefighters taking place in the airport. I asked myself why don’t we turn it into a product, a template that we can fit in any scenario, like – firefighting, critical illness, emergency landing, and so on. We wanted to turn training into a sustainable and cost-effective product.” 

They have already launched their product into the education sector, with the title of the company itself. They have also started implementing their innovative solution in the healthcare sector, which requires extensive use of AR and VR to enhance the sales, training, and medical requirements in the industry. With Edutapxr, the retail sector has an opportunity to merge its AI with AR or VR technology. There are a plethora of opportunities in the real estate industry as well. With this technology, one can experience the tour of one’s dream house virtually. It is useful for interior designing your new house, in terms of tryouts of wall paints, decorations, etc. before you actually purchase them, ultimately making the customer experience better. 

Factors influencing the industry

The market is going through a major shift toward the internet. As more things are becoming available online, people are looking for newer ways and options for their shopping experience. Edutapxr aims to resolve issues in the customer experience. One of the biggest problems is the visualisation of products. The customers are unable to picture their purchase. For example – if someone buys a product via Amazon or Flipkart, they can only try it out after it arrives. If they do not like what they have received, they exchange it. This whole process of buying-exchanging is a tiresome and time-consuming experience for both the parties – seller and buyer. The central agenda of the company is to solve this very problem at hand as much as possible. 

With old and recent companies coming up with new and unique products and ever-growing consumers,  customer experience has been a major concern. People, now, do not like to wait or compromise on their customer experience. This mentality shift has proven to be the most essential driving factor for the industry.

Artistokart- a mobile app by Edutapxr

Artistokart is an example of how small experiences in life can influence your inner innovative mind. The idea of the art-selling platform originates back when Mrs. Pampi Paul Sarkar, Managing Director and co-founder of  Edutapxr, One of her visits to the clinic during her pregnancy heard her doctor arguing over a painting he wants to buy but is unable to find or purchase it. The idea of such a cohesive platform for artists and buyers came to her mind which she then conveyed to her husband, Abhijit. Together they turned their abstract dream into reality. This stands to be a brilliant lesson for the aspiring entrepreneurs to look for motivation and ideas everywhere. No matter where you are, look around you, the little things that you observe can ignite within you a spark of creativity. 

Artistokart is a global platform for artists all around the globe to exhibit and sell their art. In other words, it is a virtual art gallery. Physical art galleries are predominantly visited by art connoisseurs, which restricts an artist’s clientele. Artistokart helps to break both the intellectual and physical boundaries of art. An interested buyer can now buy art sitting in any corner of the world. Not only does one get to buy the physical artwork, but one also receives the digital copy via NFT which guarantees its authenticity. This initiative facilitates cultural exchange and shares different artistic perspectives. 

In terms of commerce, Artistokart will bring in a lot of new businesses in the country from all over the globe, with just a few clicks on your mobile phone, no matter where you are on the map. 

How is it solving the challenges of customer experience? 

One of the major challenges that can be observed is in the education sector. Even though many institutions are now coming up with screens, and presentations,  most of the educational institutions still have not advanced beyond the blackboard on the wall, which results in a lack of imagination and monotony. The solution to this problem is AR, as it helps students to visualize what is being taught in class. 

Secondly, when a consumer wants to purchase a product, she or he wants to visualize it before buying it. With AR, the consumer gets the opportunity to truly experience something before making the final purchase. Attempts have been made by online shopping sites to solve this problem, but art-selling sites remain in the backseat. With Artistokart’s technology, the buyer can experience their desired artwork on his or her wall via the implementation of AR. “ With this what we are trying to achieve is a convenient space for both the seller and the buyer, where the seller does not physically have to hand over the painting; and the consumers do not have to make time and go the art galleries, they can buy artwork from wherever they are, whenever they want. This also ensures that the painting or artwork is not duplicated. It facilitates to create a bigger audience for the artists, ” says Ashwal CS, CTO and co-founder of Edutapxr. These are the factors that set Artistokart apart from other art-seller websites. 

As they are growing globally, they intend to have a multilingual approach on its platform to overcome the language barrier and further improve the user experience. Therefore, they will hire more developers, Indian as well as from abroad in near future to help them enhance their platform. Customer assistance is another of their concerns. 

Though it is right now in its preliminary stage, Artistokart will be launched in digital stores like Google Playstore and Apple App store soon. 

For the entrepreneurs, Abhijit advices what he believes – “ Three key words that I’d like budding entrepreneurs to know are – Trust, Transparency, and Team. If there is trust and transparency between the team members, you can achieve your goals. Trust in yourself and, with the trust and transparency build your team.” 

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