Boy Who Sat at a Cloth Shop Cash Counter Now Runs a Rs 264 Cr Turnover Tech Startup

As a boy, Abhinav Jain loved going with his father to open the shutters of their cloth store in Dabra, a small town near Gwalior in Madhya Pradesh. He enjoyed sitting at the cash counter and watching customers walk in and out.

That early exposure to running a business left a deep impression on him. Years later, those small lessons from his father’s shop would shape his journey as an entrepreneur.

Abhinav Jain, co-founder of Almonds AI, started his business journey at his father’s cloth shop in Dabra (Photos: Special Arrangement)

Today, Abhinav is the co-founder of Almonds AI, a Gurgaon-based startup that specialises in AI-powered channel loyalty and rewards solutions. Founded in 2017 by Abhinav Jain and his co-founder Apurv Modi with an investment of Rs 1 lakh, the company has grown into a B2B enterprise with a turnover of Rs 264 crore.

Almonds AI helps brands improve their relationship with channel partners such as retailers, dealers, and professionals like drivers, painters, and mechanics. These channel partners play a key role in promoting and selling the brands' products.


The company provides a platform that allows brands to run loyalty and rewards programs, which help keep their channel partners engaged and motivated.

Abhinav handles the tech and delivery side of the company, while Apurv manages sales. “We are a group of problem-solvers, creative thinkers, and tech-enablers who build AI-based engagement solutions to engage and incentivise channel partner engagement. We help brands to accelerate their sales and marketing efforts,” says Abhinav.

The company claims that it can help brands grow their revenues by three times by using their channel intelligence and engagement platform. In a seed funding round, Almonds AI raised Rs 16 crore (around $1.9 million) from the promoters of Haldiram’s.

“The channel loyalty industry in India is a Rs 25,000 crore market. There are six million-plus channel partners in India, which accounts for 1.4 crore people,” says Abhinav .

Abhinav left a Rs 2 crore job in the US to pursue his startup dream in India.

Before COVID, brands connected with their channel partners mostly through physical events. These events were used to educate, reward, and inform them about promotional schemes. But the pandemic made such events difficult, which led to the rise of digital platforms like Almonds AI.

“Businesses before COVID were very different from what they became post-COVID. Earlier, brands used to reach their channel partners through ground events,” Abhinav explains. “COVID made ground events and connections difficult. That is where the brands realised that channel partners could be managed digitally.

“In India, around 94% of companies are channel-led businesses. These channel partners are the dealers and distributors and are also the real-time influencers of their business. This is where companies like Almonds AI enter.”

When asked how they get business, Abhinav says, “Big multinational companies park around Rs 250 to Rs 300 crore annually to invest in their channel partners. Almonds AI charges around 5 to 10% of this. Big players in the industry use their own app to connect to their channel partners, managed by Almonds AI, whereas small companies use the app Kounter, which has been developed by Almonds AI.”

Once a scheme is ready to be rolled out, the sales team asks channel partners to install the app. Almonds AI creates the promotional material and uploads it on the app to make it easy to understand.

They inform the partners about schemes like cashback, gift vouchers, Amazon vouchers, free trips, and more. In some campaigns, the company CEO joins live events online and hosts quizzes where participants win prizes.

There are also larger reward schemes, such as a family tour for selling a certain quantity of products. All of this is managed by Almonds AI so that the brands don’t have to manage these details on their own.
In the beginning, Abhinav and Apurv worked with marketing agencies like Mudra, DDB, and Crayon.

Later, they started working independently. During the COVID period, Almonds AI organised over 300 dealer meets online. Today, they work with more than 100 brands including PepsiCo, Asian Paints, KIA, Medimix, FMC, L'Oréal, ABP, Ceat, Emami, ITC, and Coca-Cola.

The company started with just the two of them and now has a team of 160 people. Of these, 70% are in tech, 20% in client servicing, and 10% in sales. “Reaching the right people and showcasing your product to them was the biggest struggle. Pitching to them and getting schedules was another big task. I can never forget the days when I used to stand outside offices for hours to meet people,” Abhinav says.

“The best thing we did for the company was to keep money secondary and give the best services, which worked in our favour. Apurv and I had money to back us up for a year, which gave us a lot of confidence. After this, we simply dedicated ourselves totally to the business.”

Abhinav with the Almonds AI team, which has grown from two founders to over 160 professionals

One of the major challenges in the early days was trust. “When we were new and a small entrant in the loyalty business market, big brands had trust issues. But once we rolled out with big players like PepsiCo, word of mouth spread in our favour and we started getting better clients,” says Abhinav .

When a client shows interest on the website, the team reaches out within 24 hours to explain the platform and understand their requirements. After that, the business development team takes over, provides a demo, and connects them with senior team members.

Abhinav Jain, 41, was born in Dabra, a small town near Gwalior in Madhya Pradesh. His father was a driver and his mother a homemaker who always wanted the family to progress. After their marriage, she encouraged his father to start a cloth store, which helped improve their financial situation.

Abhinav did his schooling at SKV Academy in Dabra and completed his B.Tech in IT from IBM Gwalior in 2005. After finishing college, he moved to Bengaluru with friends, aiming to build a career in the IT sector.

Though he had good academic scores, he was not fluent in English and struggled in the job market. “I kept giving walk-in interviews for two months. An experience that I can never forget is when I went for a walk-in interview which had 5,000 people in line, and by the time my turn came, the shortlisting was over. They were shortlisting candidates as per the grades.”

Abhinav with his wife Aashi and children Aanvi and Aanvik

He finally got his first job in 2005 at Ness Digital Engineering with a salary of Rs 16,000. Later, he worked with Dell and JetBlue Airways, and eventually moved to the US, where he worked as Senior Director at OnDeck Capital and earned an annual salary of Rs 2 crore. In 2017, he returned to India to start Almonds AI.

Abhinav now lives in Gurgaon with his wife Aashi Jain, daughter Aanvi Jain (10), and son Aanvik Modi (5). His advice to upcoming entrepreneurs is simple: “Keep chasing ideas and give your best. One shouldn’t run after money but must run to deliver commitment.” In his free time, he enjoys playing the piano, spending time with his children, swimming, playing DJ at home, and going off-roading. - ©TWL