Former Fortis HR Head Invests Rs.10 Lakh, Builds Rs.16 Crore Turnover B2B Office Supplies Platform

A shop talk between Aabha Gupta and her husband Pravinn about the troubles in shopping for various office products ended up in them floating Ant Mascot, an online shopping platform for office items.

“I was involved in setting up a hospital ground up for Fortis in Bengaluru. Sourcing various items was a challenging task. There were a lot of gaps we found in sourcing. One fine day, I was discussing this issue with my husband, who also faced similar issues,” recalled Aabha, the Co-Founder of Ant Mascot.

Aabha Gupta launched Ant Mascot in 2016 after quitting her job at Fortis Hospitals (Photos: Special Arrangement)

The couple found an opportunity to transform the unorganised corporate sourcing sector into an organised one.

In 2016, Aabha took the plunge into entrepreneurship, quitting her job as the Unit HR Head at Fortis Hospitals and investing Rs.10 lakh of their savings into starting the business from their home.

While platforms like Amazon and Flipkart catered to retail consumers, Ant Mascot decided to focus on the B2B segment, addressing the unique needs of businesses.


Despite the initial struggles of on-boarding vendors and pandemic-induced setbacks, Ant Mascot steadily grew.

Today, the platform lists over 350 brands and offers unique features like personalisation, transparent billing, and automated deliveries for repetitive orders.

The couple’s hard work has turned their once home-based startup into a Rs.16 crore turnover enterprise.

Before delving further into Ant Mascot, it is fascinating to trace Aabha’s journey from her early interest in Botany during her school and college days to becoming a human resource professional and, eventually, an entrepreneur.

Aabha completed her schooling at Chinmaya Vidyalaya in Bokaro Steel City. Her father, Vishwanath Prasad, was employed with SAIL, and her mother, Sumitra Devi, was a homemaker.

Aabha grew up in the small town of Bokaro Steel City, where her father was employed with SAIL

Known as a bookworm, Aabha was also active in sports, singing, and other extracurricular activities.

“For everyone in the small town, the aspiration was to become an engineer or a doctor. I passed the dental entrance exam. But as a stopgap arrangement, I joined a bachelor’s degree course in Botany at St. Xavier's College in Ranchi. During my first year, my mentor guided me to pursue an MBA,” Aabha said.

After completing her undergraduate course, she joined the MBA programme at IBS, Bengaluru, specialising in HR. Aabha was recruited as a Management Trainee at Fortis Hospitals through campus placement.

During her time at Fortis, Aabha realised that HR is much more than recruitment and payroll management. Based on her performance, she was promoted to Senior Executive HR at Fortis Healthcare, Bengaluru.

After spending just over two years at Fortis, she moved to Cloud Nine Healthcare Facility in Bengaluru as Deputy Manager HR. In about one and a half years, Aabha returned to Fortis Hospitals as the Unit HR Head, taking on additional responsibilities.

It was during this time that she encountered sourcing challenges, which eventually led her to become an entrepreneur in 2018.

Around this time, her husband Pravinn, who was working as an Assistant Manager at Samsonite India Pvt Ltd, decided to join her in the business full-time.

Soon, Pravinn, who was then an Assistant Manager at Samsonite India Pvt Ltd, joined Aabha in the business. “It was not right for him to work in a different company and also focus on our business,” Aabha said.

Ant Mascot initially started as a corporate gifting business. But why the name Ant Mascot?

“Traditionally, it is believed black ants bring prosperity. Ants are hard workers, work as a team, and can carry items weighing 50 times their body weight,” Aabha explained. “And gunny bags are said to hold surprise gifts. So we decided to have an ant with a gunny bag on its back as our logo.”

Aabha and Pravinn (extreme left) have set a target of Rs 25 crore turnover for the current fiscal

Like any entrepreneurial couple, Pravinn and Aabha faced their share of challenges in the early days. “Onboarding vendors was a challenge. Similarly, retaining people was also difficult for a startup. But we persevered and became the business partners for Adidas,” Aabha said.

Initially, the couple found the business promising, with steady growth in its early days. However, the Covid pandemic in 2020 hit their business hard.

“Like the ants that never leave anyone of its clan behind, we didn’t lay off any employee nor implemented any pay cuts,” Aabha said, highlighting their commitment to their team during tough times.

Post-Covid, the business has been recovering steadily. The shopping portal now lists about 350 brands, and the company aims to increase this number to 1,000 by the end of the fiscal year. Additionally, they are working to strengthen their backend network to support future growth.

When asked why businesses should choose Ant Mascot over platforms like Amazon and Flipkart, Pravinn explained,

“Our focus is B2B. We provide the necessary billing details - like GST - that a business would need. Others are largely B2C platforms focused on discount sales with restrictions on buying volume. Furthermore, the cost of customer acquisition for B2C portals is high compared to ours.”

Another significant advantage offered by Ant Mascot is personalisation. "We can customise products bought in bulk by printing names, brands, and other details," Aabha shared. For repetitive purchases, such as stationery and office supplies, Ant Mascot ensures automatic deliveries on the scheduled date based on the initial standing order.

According to Pravinn, businesses can automate their procurement process through Ant Mascot, reducing the need for a dedicated stores in-charge while maintaining complete transparency in purchase transactions.

When asked about the absence of venture investors, Pravinn explained, “In 2018, when we started, we were not aware of angel investors and such funding options. Post-Covid, awareness about seed funding and other investment opportunities increased.” Despite receiving investment offers, the couple turned down proposals that demanded a 35-40% stake in exchange for $1 million.

“In B2C business, the margins are between 40-60%, and venture capitalists expect about 28% returns. On the other hand, in B2B portals, the margins are low and hence not lucrative for VCs. Currently, we get bank funding as well as a credit period from the vendors,” Pravinn said.

Aabha proudly mentions that Ant Mascot did not lay off any of its employees during the Covid lockdown period

He mentioned that the potential in the sector is huge, as many Indian companies are reluctant to come on board and prefer relationship-based purchases. “Nearly 75% of the B2B segment is unorganised. Many Chinese companies are willing to list their products on Ant Mascot, while Indian companies are a bit reluctant,” he added.

Despite these challenges, the couple remains optimistic and has set a target of achieving a Rs.25 crore turnover this fiscal, up from the Rs.16 crore logged last year.

Pravinn mentioned that their 40-member team has made the company profitable, and they are focused on scaling their operations further. -  ©TWL

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