At a time when post-Covid narratives were busy writing obituaries for brick-and-mortar retail, a Hyderabad-based startup Zithara AI chose to bet on India’s stores instead.
Founded in 2021, Zithara AI is quietly building the digital backbone for offline retailers across Bharat – arming them with the same data intelligence, customer insights, and growth levers that online-first brands have long taken for granted.
The result is not just survival, but scalable growth for physical retail in Tier 1, Tier 2, and Tier 3 India.
Co-founded by Varun Kashyap and Sridevi Reddy, Zithara AI was born from a simple but powerful conviction: offline retail doesn’t lack customers – it lacks intelligence.
Turning an Offline Blind Spot into a Scalable Opportunity
The founders’ insight emerged from lived experience. Varun Kashyap, after leaving Deloitte, worked closely on retail ERP systems, while Sridevi Reddy brought global exposure from her time at Marketo in the US, followed by hands-on involvement in a family-run retail business in India.
What they saw repeatedly was a systemic gap.
Says Sridevi Reddy, “Offline retailers were investing in stores, inventory, and staff – but had almost no visibility into who their customers were, where they came from, or what drove repeat purchases. Unlike digital platforms, there was no Customer360 view, no lifecycle tracking, and no predictive intelligence.”
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“Zithara AI set out to change that. What began as a first-party customer data capture tool has evolved into a full-stack Lead-to-Loyalty Customer360 platform, purpose-built for offline retail environments,” she stated.
Building a Lead-to-Loyalty Engine for Physical Stores
Zithara AI’s product evolution mirrors the real-world needs of its customers. Early integrations focused on basic data capture, including UPI-linked customer information. As adoption grew, the platform expanded into a comprehensive system that connects online discovery with offline transactions.
Today, Zithara AI manages the entire offline customer lifecycle:
- Lead discovery and capture across digital ads, social platforms, and physical storefronts
- AI-led lead nurturing, ensuring prospects don’t go cold before visiting the store
- In-store conversion, with unified customer profiles created at the point of sale
- Segmentation and predictive analytics to identify high-value and high-intent customers
- Automated, multi-channel engagement across SMS, WhatsApp, and social media
- Feedback and reputation management, including AI-driven responses to Google reviews to protect SEO and brand trust
- For mid-sized retailers with limited IT teams, AI becomes the force multiplier—handling what humans can’t scale manually.
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Delivering Measurable Growth Outcomes for Retailers
Zithara AI’s value proposition is anchored in outcomes, not dashboards.
The company commits to three clear business results for its customers:
- 100% lead capture
- 30% increase in repeat customers
- 60% increase in monetisable customer value
These metrics have become the foundation of Zithara AI’s adoption, particularly among retailers facing intense competition from national and digital-first brands.
AI Agents That Work While Retailers Sleep
At the core of the platform are seven AI agents, designed to reduce operational friction and decision fatigue for store owners.
From automated Google review responses and AI-handled social media queries (as a Meta partner), to intelligent reporting and in-product AI assistance, the philosophy is consistent: free business owners from execution so they can focus on growth.
This approach has resonated strongly with traditional retail entrepreneurs navigating rapid digital change.
Focused Markets, Pan-India Reach
Explaining their go-to-market strategy, Sridevi Reddy says, “Zithara AI currently serves high-involvement retail sectors such as jewellery and wellness, with planned expansion into automobile dealerships and real estate. Jewellery, in particular, has emerged as a strong growth vertical as regional players in Tier 2 and Tier 3 towns accelerate digital adoption to compete with national chains.
Today, Zithara AI works with retailers from Kashmir to Tamil Nadu, following a deliberate strategy of onboarding category leaders within each regional market.”
Revenue Momentum and Funding Journey
Zithara AI’s growth story is reflected clearly in its financials.
The company operates on a SaaS subscription model, serving around 120 active customers, with pricing starting at ₹25,000 per month and scaling up to ₹2+ lakh per month for enterprise deployments, billed annually.
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Revenue growth has accelerated sharply:
- FY 2023: ₹85 lakh
- FY 2024: ₹2.76 crore
- FY 2025 (target): ₹6 crore
This traction has been achieved with a lean 30-member team, primarily based in Hyderabad, supported by a distributed sales presence.
On the funding front, Zithara AI has raised $50 lakh in HNI funding from Hyderabad-based family offices and is actively preparing for its next funding round as enterprise adoption deepens.
Scaling the “Made in India” Retail Tech Vision
Revealing the future growth plan, Sridevi Reddy said, “Over the next year, Zithara AI plans to double down on India, with a focused goal of onboarding 500 jewellery retailers. While international expansion is on the roadmap, the immediate priority remains Bharat – where offline retail continues to dominate consumption.”
“The platform already supports Indian retailers with overseas operations, reinforcing the founders’ long-term vision: building “Made in India, for the world” infrastructure that solves a global offline retail problem,” she added.
In a startup ecosystem often obsessed with online-first models, Zithara AI is proving that the next wave of scale may well come from empowering the millions of physical stores that still power India’s economy.
