[NEWS] India’s Meesho raises $125M to expand its social commerce business – Loganspace

Meesho,a Bangalore-based totally social commerce startup, has raised $125 million in a brand original financing round to magnify its alternate in the nation and alternate the vogue hundreds of thousands shop online.

The Series D round used to be led byNaspers,and present traders SAIF, Sequoia,Shunwei Capital,RPS and Venture Freeway participating as neatly. Fbalso participated in the round, so did Arun Sarin, venerable CEO of Vodafone Neighborhood. The four-year-frail startup has raised $190 million thus a long way.

Meesho is a web based marketplace thatconnects sellers with potentialities on social media platforms equivalent to WhatsApp, Fb, and Instagram. The startup claims to possess a community of extra than 2 million resellers from 700 cities who largely take care of apparel, residence residence equipment and electronics devices.

These resellers are mostly homemakers, most of whom possess purchased a smartphone for the predominant time in newest years. Eighty p.c of Meesho’s individual execrable is female.

Meesho acknowledged the startup will employ the new capital to magnify its attain in the nation and add as many as 18 million original sellers by discontinuance of next year. “The most modern funding will also enhance Meesho’s aim to develop its neighborhood of females entrepreneurs who possess dreamt of working their very possess companies but lacked the funds and abilities to realize so,” the corporate acknowledged.

More than 90% of companies in India are quiet offline and unorganized. Meesho is attempting to safe these companies, most of whom don’t possess working capital to allow their very possess online presence, promote online, Vidit Aatrey, Meesho co-founder and CEO, urged TechCrunch in an interview.

“I am particularly proud that Meesho has reduce at some level of gender, training ranges, possibility appetites and vocations to earn livelihoods for folks with no funding of their very possess. Our social sellers are puny stores, females, students and retired residents, with 70% being homemakers who possess found monetary freedom and a alternate identification with out having to step launch air their properties,” acknowledged Aatrey.

Meesho also plans to make employ of the original funds to further bulk up its abilities platform to accommodate original product strains.

“The excellent improve they are already experiencing reveals that Meesho has hit a candy order available in the market and is neatly-poised to attend the next 500 million online purchasers in the nation,” acknowledged Ashutosh Sharma, Head of India Investments, Naspers Ventures, in a press launch.