Social media based e-commerce startup Meesho has raised Series C funding of $50 million from new investors Shunwei Capital, DST Partners and RPS Ventures with participation from existing investors Sequoia India, SAIF Partners, Venture Highway and Y Combinator.
The company will use the fresh funding to work on its platform, hire in the technology team, expand into more categories and increase supply base from domestic and international vendors.
Meesho is a ‘social selling’ platform which essentially connects suppliers to resellers, or small business owners like housewives, teachers, students etc, who then use social networks such as WhatsApp, Instagram, and Facebook to promote these products within their networks. The platform also enables business owners to manage orders, process payments and handle their logistics for delivery. A cursory glance at the app shows that it is a platform primarily for apparels and fashion accessories, along with personal care and health products. Other than English, the app is also available in Hindi, Bengali, Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, and Kannada.
Co-founder Vidit Aatrey claims that Meesho has grown 10 times in the past six months. The app claims to have over 2 million sellers across 500 towns, with their customer base largely comprising of small retailers, housewives, students, and retired senior citizens. This is clearly more than the 800,000 sellers it said it had in June. It currently has 350 employees based out of Bangalore.
Previous funding
- It raised $11.5 million in a round led by Sequoia India in June.
- In October 2017, it raised $3.1 million from SAIF Partners and existing investors Y Combinator and Venture Highway.
- In August 2016, Meesho had raised undisclosed amount of funding from group of angel investors like VH Capital, Kashyap Deorah, Rajul Garg, Oyo Rooms’ Maninder Gulati, Abhishek Jain and Jaspreet Bindra among others.
- In July 2016, Meesho was selected by Y Combinator for a three-month programme based in the US; the accelerator invests $120,000 in startups against 7% equity stakes as part of the program.
