‘wWhere’ are you? This filmmaker-turned-entrepreneur has the answer

Where are you? Those three words – in different forms, contexts, and languages – constitute nearly one-third of the text messages sent by smartphone users, says Ritam Bhatnagar, founder of wWhere. His location-based startup, incubated at the entrepreneurship center of the Indian Institute of Management (IIM) Ahmedabad, just announced seed funding of US$100,000 from angel investors in the US, India, and Singapore.

wWhere is a map-based app that aims to solve a range of location-related problems people face everyday. Finding an address or alternative routes to a destination are obvious uses. It also enables locations to be stored for quick access when the time arrives to go to a meeting.

There are 15 such features that distinguish this app in a crowded space, Mark Spence from wWhere tells Tech in Asia. For example, it works like a messenger to send location information one-on-one as well as to groups. A variation of this is a feature called AutoLocate – when this is turned on, the user’s parents or friends can track her on wWhere for safety.

The app uses Google Maps as a base, but has its own layer on top to plot locations based on user data. It had a private beta for testing and is now ready for launch next month, “targeting Asia, Australia, and Europe,” says Bhatnagar, in a statement on the funding.

Arunay Gupta, co-founder of US-based Marketelligent, who is one of the investors, says:

Given that consumers and businesses will increasingly tap into geo-location services in the future, Ritam and team are working in the right direction, ahead of time.

“The team has spent a lot of time working through real-world use cases that would differentiate the end-product,” adds Ashim Mehra, VP at Baron Capital, a venture capital firm based in New York, who is also one of the investors in wWhere.

wWhere founder Ritam Bhatnagar is better known as a filmmaker from Gujarat who started the India Film Project (IFP) in 2011. It’s a contest in which filmmakers – both amateur and professional – are given a theme on which to make a film within 48 hours and upload it on the IFP website. A jury of recognized filmmakers picks winners. Thousands of filmmakers from around the world have been participating in this venture.

Bhatnagar’s track record in scaling up a project will come in handy in his new role as tech entrepreneur.

See: They fell in love, built a video messenger, and lived ‘appily’ ever after