The studio
Design and code, held together by the ampersand since 2018
D&C Studios is a design and engineering studio born in Mumbai. We began as three students fixing our own hosting bill. Eight years and 200+ projects later, a partner still reads every brief, and we still look after what we ship.
Where it started
It started with a spreadsheet and a hosting bill
In 2018 Saurabh Soparkar, Prem Raval and Suraj Pawar were computer engineering students at Atharva College of Engineering in Mumbai. They belonged to a campus technology community that already called itself Design & Code, and between assignments they built websites for friends, college clubs and the small businesses around them.
Those sites all shared one irritation. The domains and hosting behind them cost too much, and the support came from people nobody could reach. One evening Saurabh opened a spreadsheet and listed every domain and server the community was paying for, what each one cost, and what a fair price would look like. The gap was large enough to act on.
In October 2018 they started Hosting Seva: plain-spoken hosting for Indian small businesses from ₹49 a month, with the founders answering support themselves. It broke even inside six months and grew past 100 clients. Suraj learned DNS, backups and SSL at two in the morning while a customer waited on the line.
That was the real education. Three students learned what happens to a website after the launch party: renewals, expiring certificates, slow pages, a panicked call on a Sunday. Everything D&C does today, from the first workshop to the care plan, is built on that lesson.
Eight years
From a campus community to clients in 11 countries
2018
A spreadsheet becomes a company
The Design & Code community builds sites across campus, and in October three of its members start Hosting Seva. The first logo is homemade: Design &Code in a heavy charcoal italic, with an oversized mint ampersand. The mint has survived every redesign since.
The first logo, 2019. The ampersand was already mint. 2019
A hackathon spring, then a studio
February brings a campus esports tournament. March brings the 24 hour Atharva Hackathon 2019, with prizes worth more than ₹4 lakh and Enroot Mumbai as community partner. Prem wins the Smart India Hackathon 2019 and reaches the Hack Asia final in Singapore. In May the founders incorporate Desicode Infosolutions LLP, and D&C becomes its studio.
2020
The year everything moved online
India locks down in March. In the first weeks of April we launch SEO Seva, because small businesses suddenly need to be found online. The same year we build GoDaddy Academy's certification platform, move Ekeeda to the cloud over a single weekend and rebuild the Creating Abilities website.
2021
Platforms, not pages
Made By Bharat launches with more than 100 vendors, AR previews and apps for buyers and sellers. IVCA cuts its renewal cycle from three weeks to four days. The NABARD Employees' Co-operative Credit Society gives 3,000+ members round the clock access to their accounts.
2023
Immersion gets a home of its own
After Mahindra MILU's AR and VR modules make practical onboarding 30% faster in the pilot, Virtuali takes shape as the family's immersive practice. Our work reaches institutions such as IEEE.
2024
Founder to founder, across borders
Word travels the way good work does. Clients arrive from the UAE, Singapore, the UK, the US and Australia, and teams in the Gulf discover that a studio in Mumbai works on Dubai time. Closer to home, a Pune retail chain puts 14 stores on one inventory.
2026
Eight years, one ampersand
We are 35+ people and specialists, with 200+ projects delivered for clients in 11 countries. AI assistants, WhatsApp commerce and ERP integrations now sit beside the websites and apps. The habits are still the ones Hosting Seva taught: answer the phone, write it down, look after what you ship.
What we believe
Seven beliefs, tested on real deadlines
- 01
Say it plainly.
Clear words, honest estimates and bad news delivered early, while it is still cheap to fix. Jargon is where problems hide, so we write proposals a finance director and a developer can both follow.
- 02
Design and code in the same room.
The best ideas survive contact with engineering because engineering was there when they were born. Designers and engineers share the workshops, the prototypes and the Friday demo.
- 03
Own the outcome, not the ticket.
We measure ourselves by what the product does for your business: renewals in four days instead of three weeks, pages three times faster. Closed tickets are a means, never the point.
- 04
Build for the person at the end of the screen.
Accessible, fast on a mid range phone and understandable on the first visit. Someone on a patchy connection and a cheap handset is always in the room when we review a design.
- 05
Stay after launch.
Launch is the start of the useful part. We learned that answering hosting support calls, and we have not forgotten it. Most clients keep us on for care and growth.
- 06
Mumbai hustle, global standards.
The energy of a city that never waits, with the documentation, security and craft an international team expects. Quick replies on WhatsApp, and every decision written down.
- 07
Leave it better.
A share of our time goes to nonprofits and community work, because technology should help beyond the balance sheet.
Culture
What a week at D&C actually looks like
Small teams, senior people and a partner on every engagement. We would rather show you working software on a Friday than a status deck on a Monday. The Ampersand Method gives the work its shape; these habits give it its character.
- & Small senior teams, with a partner involved in every engagement.
- & Weekly demos of working software, never status decks.
- & WhatsApp for speed, written decisions for memory.
- & Everyone ships and everyone supports. Engineers join client calls; designers read the analytics.
- & Monsoon Fridays, chai at four, and a standing rule that the best idea in the room can come from anyone.
The Desicode family
Four practices, one accountable relationship
D&C Studios is the design and engineering studio of Desicode Infosolutions LLP (LLPIN AAP-2577), Mumbai. Its sister practices bring hosting, search and immersive depth, so a client never has to manage five vendors to get one product right.
Design and engineering
D&C Studios
Strategy, design and engineering
The studio at the centre of the family since May 2019. Websites, apps, commerce, AI and integrations, designed and built by one team.
Sister practice
Hosting Seva
Hosting and infrastructure, since 2018
Where it all began: plain-spoken hosting from ₹49 a month that grew past 100 clients. Its habits run through our cloud and hosting work.
Sister practice
SEO Seva
Search and digital marketing, since 2020
Launched in April 2020, as India locked down and small businesses needed to be found. Its know-how powers our growth and marketing practice.
Sister practice
Virtuali
Augmented and virtual reality
The immersive practice, shaped by AR previews for Made By Bharat and training modules for Mahindra MILU. It gives our AR and VR work its 3D depth.
Impact
Some of our favourite work was never about the invoice
Since the Atharva Hackathon in 2019, when Enroot Mumbai signed on as our community partner, we have kept a share of studio time for nonprofits and community groups, and we protect it like client time. We rebuilt the website for Creating Abilities, and volunteer enquiries doubled in six months. Karma Foundation, Global Parli and Meditate-A-Thon have trusted us with their websites and campaigns, and through Enroot Mumbai we built a site for Blind Handicap Social. The briefs are often small. The people they reach are not.
- Creating Abilities
- Enroot Mumbai
- Karma Foundation
- Global Parli
- Meditate-A-Thon
In numbers
Eight years, counted without rounding up
200+
projects delivered
Websites, platforms, apps and campaigns
100+
clients
From first time founders to Fortune 500 programmes
11
countries
India, the Gulf, Singapore, the UK, North America, Australia and more
82%
of clients come back
for a second project
35+
people and specialists
A senior core in Mumbai, specialists on call
2018
building since
Hosting Seva first, the studio a year later
Bring the rough version.
We are at our best early, when an idea is still half formed or a system is quietly failing. A partner reads every brief and replies within one working day.