CIOInsider India Magazine
Noise Planning to Make its First Investment
As it competes for dominance in the rapidly expanding Indian market, smartwatch manufacturer Noise is in discussions for its first-ever investment round.
According to reports, Nexxbase Marketing Pvt, which sells smartwatches and earbuds under the Noise brand, is looking for funding to expand its product line and increase its market position in India, where 100 million wearable devices were sold in 2017.
Amit and Gaurav Khatri, brothers, created Noise in 2014 in Gurugram, one of New Delhi's satellite cities. The company started out selling smartphone cases before switching to selling smartphone accessories.
Its smartwatches cost between $18 to $85, which is less than the higher-end devices from Apple Inc. and Samsung Electronics Co. This helped the company take the lead in the Indian market by unit sales last year. Chinese rivals that compete with it in the lower-end market have also been defeated by it.
The Indian vendors still rely heavily on Chinese components, Singh said. Many local wearables brands are ramping up research and development spending, though, to reduce their dependence on imported parts, he said.
About 27 percent of the devices sold in India were noise, thanks in part to strong marketing campaigns starring well-known batsman Virat Kohli. In the first quarter of 2023, the competitors from India held a combined 84 percent of the market for smart wearables.
One uncommon electronic market is smart wearables, which is dominated by Indian companies. Chinese companies like Vivo, Xiaomi, and Oppo have long had dominant market positions in India, particularly in the smartphone sector.
“They were too focused on bringing out more and more features in their smartphones, completely losing sight of the fast-growing accessories segment,” said Navkendar Singh, associate vice president at IDC Asia Pacific. “It will be very hard for them to catch up now.”
The Indian vendors still rely heavily on Chinese components, Singh said. Many local wearables brands are ramping up research and development spending, though, to reduce their dependence on imported parts, he said.
