With Rs 25k, this Maharashtra woman started a gifting brand with her bhabhi - went viral for unique balloon bouquets, clocked Rs 50 lakh

They say that gifting is an art. Anyone can put together a few things and call it a “gift.” 

But true gifting? It goes beyond packaging, price, and colours. It is about thought and intention. About remembering someone’s favourite colour. Or something they casually said they wanted months ago.

In India, the online gifting market size was valued at USD 309.60 million in 2025. By 2034, it is projected to climb to USD 406.51 million, growing at a CAGR of 3.07%.

In this million-dollar industry, Pratikkshha Chhallani from Sambhajinagar (formerly Aurangabad) in Maharashtra saw a gap.

“Numerous brands are into gifting and packaging. But thoughtful integration? A design-to-delivery level of detail? I thought that was missing. I am a serial gifter myself; there’s nothing I like more than being truly involved in the process of building a present from scratch. We started our brand to bring non-mechanical curation to gifting and help people really get creative with their presents,” Pratikkshha Chhallani, co-founder of The Balloon Company, tells Startup Pedia in an exclusive interview.

Founded in 2020, The Balloon Company is a Sambhajinagar-based gifting company that is operated by Pratikkshha and her sister-in-law, Charvi Kothari. It is a 100% Instagram-led brand that operates in the spaces of corporate gifting, trousseau packing, bulk gifting, festive and wedding gifting, personalized gifting, and event planning.

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THE BACKGROUND

Currently 28 years old, Pratikkshha Chhallani hails from Sambhajinagar in Maharashtra. She graduated in Retail and Exhibition Design from the MIT Institute of Design. 

During college, she started working with Elephant Design, one of India’s pioneering design companies. 

“I have been involved in various high-level projects like curating the India House Pavilion for the Tokyo Olympics and putting together an experiential factory show for Coca-Cola. It was an incredible journey,” she says.

In 2020, she resigned from her job and took up graphic design in a freelance setup.

“I am an innovator and curator by nature. Entrepreneurship comes from within for people like us. I genuinely don’t like routine. Instead, give me 100% ownership and I will thrive,” Pratikkshha Chhallani laughs.

THE BALLOON THAT STARTED IT ALL

In October 2020, Pratikkshha saw a picture that had a balloon with a flower inside. She was very fascinated and started looking up how it was pulled off.

“I love anything that is related to making people feel special. This balloon idea just happened randomly, and I decided to test it out myself. I talked to Charvi, my sister-in-law, and she decided to join me in this venture,” startup founder Pratikkshha shares.

Charvi Kothari, currently 32 years old, has a master’s degree in e-business and finance from Welingkar Institute of Management. 

“She is the operational backbone and powerhouse of our gifting brand today. Impeccable memory, excellent management,” Pratikkshha smiles.

In 2020 itself, Pratikkshha and Charvi pooled Rs 25,000 from their savings and invested the amount in procuring a balloon-blowing machine and other raw materials.

The first time the entrepreneur duo started assembling a balloon and a flower, it took them three long hours. But, they persisted.

The gifting venture started as a pure trial, and the startup founders did not even have a brand name for the first three months of operating the business.

Pratikkshha Chhallani had been running an art account on Instagram for some time. She would paint shoes and showcase the outcomes. Along with Charvi, she decided to post the flower-in-a-balloon concept on the same handle.

“People instantly started placing orders via Instagram DMs. So we would just make the flower-balloons and dispatch them personally across our region,” entrepreneur Pratikkshha Chhallani explains.

It was in December 2020 that Charvi Kothari and Pratikkshha Chhallani named their gifting brand as The Balloon Company.

JOURNEY AND CHALLENGES: NO ROADMAP, JUST UNDYING CREATIVITY 

In January 2021, Charvi Kothari and Pratikkshha Chhallani invested Rs 1.5 lakh to import international-quality gifting materials: PVC hampers, crown boxes, and premium packaging. At the time, these materials were completely unique to the Indian market.

“We launched the classic balloon bouquet, which went on to become our bestseller. It looks extremely pretty with flowers at the bottom and a balloon at the top. You know a hot air balloon, right? It resembles exactly that,” gifting brand founder Pratikkshha Chhallani tells Startup Pedia.

Eventually, the entrepreneur duo bought machines to insert gifts inside the balloons and switched to imported and transparent plastic balls, which have a balloon-like appearance.

“For almost the entirety of 2021, we were mainly focused on making beautiful gifts with the balloon concept. But towards the end, we decided not to limit ourselves to one category and instead expand into other gifting spaces. We started by experimenting with gift box hampers, then,” Prattikkshha adds.

The mission was simple: build a gifting brand that people come to when they want thoughtful, personalized gift curation. The startup founders steered absolutely clear of mass-produced gifts.

By 2025, The Balloon Company had entered the categories of wedding gifts, birthday gifts, anniversary gifts, festive hampers, corporate gifting, and baby announcements. It also started catering to bulk orders.

The gifting brand’s USP became its concept-driven, thoughtful gifts with meaning.

But the journey wasn’t so simple. It was filled with anxieties about not having a clear roadmap and taking one day at a time.

“Despite being passionate about gifting in general, the industry itself was very new to us. We learned everything through multiple trial-and-error episodes, but didn’t give up. Luckily, creativity came naturally to us,” startup founder Pratikkshha Chhallani shares.

Another challenge was building The Balloon Company into a 100% Instagram-led gifting brand. That meant not utilizing paid ads, not hiring an external agency for help, and managing and coordinating everything via Instagram direct messages. 

The startup founders wore all hats – that of a stock manager, sourcer, content creator, content strategist, marketing executive, warehouse executive, backend manager, and customer support staff.

THE BALLOON COMPANY: INTENTIONAL GIFTING EVERY SINGLE DAY

Today, The Balloon Company operates as a Sambhajinagar-based gifting brand that delivers intentional gifting solutions across India.

As a 100% Instagram-led brand, it operates in the spaces of corporate gifting, trousseau packing, bulk, festive, and wedding gifting, personalized gifting, and event planning.

“One of the primary customer feedback points that we receive is that we put a story behind each gift. There is no mechanical curation that happens here. Every time we get a customer, we sit down to understand who they are, who they are giving the gift to, and the relationship they share. That’s the kind of nuance we bring to the gift-giving process,” entrepreneur Pratikkshha Chhallani tells Startup Pedia.

Apart from serving numerous customers across India, The Balloon Company is also involved in the curation and creation of hampers and bouquets for high-profile celebrity and political events.

“We made a hamper for Shilpa Shetty for a brand re-launch. This was sent to various actors and influencers like Sonam Kapoor. We also get many high-profile bulk orders from business houses, politicians, and industrialists. For instance, The Balloon Company has made welcome hampers for events attended by Devendra Fadnavis,” the startup founder notes.

In addition to curating thoughtful gifts, Pratikkshha Chhallani and Charvi Kothari also organize concept-driven birthday and anniversary parties.

Currently, the revenue split looks like:

• 70% gifting

• 30% from events

The gifting brand’s average order value fluctuates between Rs 1,500 and Rs 2,000. However, the founders did not share the unit economics breakdown of the same.

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GROWTH AND MOMENTUM OF THE SAMBHAJINAGAR-BASED GIFTING BRAND

When The Balloon Company had just started in 2020 and 2021, startup founders Pratikkshha Chhallani and Charvi Kothari received one to two orders every day.

In 2022, the number surged to three to five orders every day. By 2023, the entrepreneur duo started receiving bulk corporate and business orders.

“Since 2023, we have been catering to roughly six local orders and ten outstation orders every day. In a month, we are fulfilling at least nine to ten bulk orders as well,” Pratikkshha mentions.

Currently, the Sambhajinagar-based gifting brand has a team of ten people, out of which two work remotely. Pratikkshha and Charvi have converted their house into a warehouse space.

By December 2021, The Balloon Company clocked an annual revenue of Rs 10 lakh. In 2022, the figure reached Rs 15 lakh.

In 2023, it doubled and reached Rs 30 lakh, and in 2024, the annual revenue sat at a figure of Rs 50 lakh.

“For 2025, we crossed the Rs 50 lakh mark. We are looking to close March 2026 at Rs 70 lakh,” she says.

“If there is one thing that I really want to tell anyone who is reading this, it would be to not sit on your ideas. Do not hold on to them and wait for the right time to start. Beginnings are always going to be extremely messy, and that’s how they are supposed to be. You will figure stuff out on the way, don’t worry about that. But do not let your creativity be contained or restricted - find an outlet and commit to it. I am still grateful to the 2020 version of me that did exactly that,” Pratikkshha Chhallani signs off.