In 2015, Chennai-based brothers Karthik and Sankar Subramani, both software engineers in their early 30s, identified a gap in India’s fast-growing online retail ecosystem — poor onsite search experiences that often led to high cart abandonment rates. With a modest investment of just ₹2 lakh, pooled from their salaries, they launched Tagalys, an AI-powered product discovery and search platform designed to help online stores improve customer engagement and sales.
Humble Beginnings in a Home Office
The early setup of Tagalys was far from the sleek startup offices often associated with tech success stories. Working out of a small home office in Chennai cluttered with servers and testing equipment, the Subramani brothers spent long nights coding and manually tagging thousands of products to train their algorithms. Using open-source machine learning frameworks, they developed an intelligent search system that could understand user intent, relevance, and personalization — something missing in most Indian e-commerce sites at the time.
Their first clients came from LinkedIn outreach and word-of-mouth among small online sellers and boutique e-shops. One of their early adopters, Craftsvilla, used the Tagalys engine to improve search and product recommendations, marking the startup’s first real breakthrough. The brothers initially charged ₹10,000 per month per store, a sustainable model that kept them bootstrapped and profitable from the start.
Solving a Costly E-Commerce Problem
Before Tagalys, most e-commerce stores relied on basic keyword search engines that returned inaccurate results or failed to display relevant products. Studies showed that up to 70% of online shoppers abandoned their carts due to poor product discovery and slow site search.
Tagalys’ platform offered a smarter alternative — using AI-driven ranking, visual merchandising, and predictive analytics to optimize what customers see. The software continuously learns from customer behavior, click data, and purchase trends to reorder product listings dynamically, ensuring that users find what they want faster.
The technology not only improved search accuracy but also boosted conversion rates by up to 30%, helping small and mid-sized retailers compete with e-commerce giants.
Pandemic-Era Growth and Global Expansion
The turning point for Tagalys came in 2020, as the COVID-19 pandemic accelerated digital adoption worldwide. The rapid growth of online retail — nearly tripling in volume between 2020 and 2023 — created a surge in demand for smarter search and personalization tools.
Recognizing this opportunity, Tagalys integrated with global e-commerce platforms like Shopify, Magento, and BigCommerce, making it accessible to international merchants. The platform’s plug-and-play integrations allowed stores to go live within hours, giving them AI-powered search and merchandising capabilities without large technical teams.
By 2024, Tagalys had onboarded 500+ global merchants across India, Southeast Asia, the Middle East, and North America. Clients ranged from boutique fashion brands to enterprise-level online stores, all looking to optimize user experience and increase conversion rates.
Bootstrapped Success in the Age of Funding
In an era where startups often chase rapid funding rounds, Tagalys stands out for being entirely bootstrapped. The founders chose sustainable growth over aggressive capital infusion, focusing instead on profitability, product improvement, and customer retention.
Their pragmatic approach paid off — the company’s annual revenue crossed ₹50 crore by 2024, driven by recurring SaaS subscriptions and expanding global clientele. The brothers credit their success to deep domain expertise, consistent innovation, and customer-first thinking rather than marketing spend.
AI Innovation from India’s Tech Hubs
Tagalys represents a growing wave of Indian deep-tech startups making an international impact with focused innovation. By combining AI, machine learning, and e-commerce expertise, it demonstrates how small teams can build globally relevant products from local ecosystems.
Beyond its commercial success, Tagalys underscores how the next phase of India’s startup story lies not just in scale, but in smart, niche problem-solving — where technology quietly drives efficiency across industries.
From a home office in Chennai to powering hundreds of global online stores, the Subramani brothers’ journey with Tagalys is a reminder that big revolutions often begin in small rooms — and that in the world of digital commerce, intelligent search is the new storefront.
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