SeatO'fresh is an automated toilet seat that is retrofitted on any commode. It eliminates process of manual cleaning and at just a wave of hand it gives 100% hygienic toilet seat to every user.
Current Status
The concept is proved through 84 units running in market. ₹65,000 is the MRR (excluding period with Covid impact). 80% of this would come from recurrent consumption of rolls.
We are solving the problem of unhygienic toilets at B2B places. Before sitting on a toilet seat, today, a user would clean it manually with water, spray, or tissue papers. Housekeeping is periodic; so, all the users not sitting immediately after the cleaning would get compromised on hygiene. The need is genuine, and Covid just substantiated this need further. Since every common toilet that has a western-commode is a potential customer, the total available market is humongous.
Solution (product or service)
We say a best solution is the one that is completely automatic and gives hygienic toilet seat to every user at every time. SeatOfresh is a retrofitted toilet seat. And at just a wave of hand or press of the button, every user gets a 100% hygienic toilet seat to sit on.
Competitors
PeeSafe, PeeBuddy, SafeSeat and Housekeeping staff are our competitors.
Advantages or differentiators
When we put these companies on a graph where x axis denotes how simple is the solution and Y axis denotes how many people actually get the hygiene. Then PeeSafe is in third quadrant. Peesafe is a disinfectant spray for toilet seats. The reason it lies in the third quadrant is that every time someone uses a toilet seat they have to carry the spray and then they have to spray it which is very complex and what if the seat is wet or dirty? Peesafe just doesn't solve the purpose. Next is Peebuddy: they have disposable toilet seat covers, stand and pee devices for women, they lie in the second quadrant because it solves people's problem, people don't have to worry about cleanliness of the seat but again, someone has to carry a device to the toilet, spread it properly.... (sigh)..... then comes our biggest competitor, the housekeeping staff... well there's no debate that housekeeping is a lot manual process and it gives clean seat only to the people who use the seats just after the cleaning cycle. the people in the middle and the fag end of the cycle have to use their creativity to clean the seat. What's a good solution then? Something which is very simple to use like clicking a button and something which does not leave any single person devoid of cleanliness. Well, that's Hachimichi's SeatO'fresh. It ensures no matter who you are, you will get a new seat and that too by as simple as clicking a button. But we have SafeSeat as well offering similar product but we are different from them.
We are amongst the first few companies entering the segment of toilet hygiene. More players will soon enter the segment as the market size continues to grow.
Finance
SeatO'fresh has two components. Revenue is expected through one time sell of the machine and recurrent consumption of rolls.
Business model
Business model is like printer + cartridge. The machine is deployed under different plans and weighted average of these plans gives us ₹5000 per year per machine. Rolls are recurrently consumed. Each Roll has 100 uses and is charged at ₹200, so in a nutshell, we charge ₹2 per use. For a place like restaurant with at least 300 uses per month, we can expect at least ₹7200 as annual revenue from rolls. That gives us 5k+7k=₹12000 as annual avg. revenue per toilet. A machine at scale should come at the cost of ₹1700 and a roll should come at ₹70. This gives us 65% as gross profit margin.
Money will be spent on
36% on team and their salary 33% on making the machines free of cost to the customer 21% on making Hachimichi as credible brand and making people aware of the solution 10% on development of other concepts
1. Market lockdown 2. Prices and availability of biodegradable plastic
Won the competition and other awards
Won 2nd position in the start-up B-plan competition held by IIM Calcutta.
Invention/Patent
1. A TOILET SEAT PROTECTIVE FILM DISPENSING CORE Application No. - 202021053982. 11th Dec 2020. - A splittable core containing the wrapper roll - Ability to discard the used wrapper - Prevents foul smell 2. A TOILET SEAT FOR A TOILET SEAT FILM DISPENSING APPARATUS Application No. - 202021053982; 30th Mar 2021 - A toilet seat with built in rollers - Ensures smooth rotation even on square seat - Prevents motor jamming 3. ADJUSTABLE TOILET SEAT Application No. - 202021053982; 27th May 2021 - A toilet seat that could be adjusted to any size of the commode - Ensures perfect fit
