Women-centric pop culture website POPxo has forayed into e-commerce with the launch of a platform selling its private label merchandise like bags, phone covers, laptop sleeves, coffee mugs and cushion covers, among others. The company said that it will expand into fashion and beauty over the next few months. The company was founded by Priyanka Gill and Namrata Bostrom in late 2013 and launched in March 2016. It now claims to have 17 million monthly users and said that 80% of its users are females. The company raised funding of Rs 37 crore in April 2018. The investment round was led by Neoplux and OPPO, with participation from existing investors IDG Ventures India, Summit Media (Philippines), and Japan’s GREE Ventures. Before that, the company raised $3.1 million in April 2017, led by IDG Ventures India and Kalaari Capital with participation from GREE Ventures, Summit Media, Atul Goel and Gurpreet Singh. The company had raised $1.98 million from IDG Ventures and Kalaari Capital back in November 2015 and raised Rs 3 crore from multiple investors back in 2014. Competition Besides the fact that players like Flipkart, Amazon, and Myntra dominate the online shopping market, Popxo will also compete with the likes of Chumbak, Nykaa, Purplle, amongst others. In May, cosmetics and beauty e-commerce company Nykaa raised series D funding of Rs 165 crore from a clutch of investors including Hero’s Sunil Kant Munjal, Harsh Mariwala, Dalip Pathak, amongst others.
