Google Leads Series C Funding In O2O Fashion Ecommerce Startup Fynd

Reaffirming its commitment to the Indian startup ecosystem, global search giant Google has led Series C funding in O2O fashion ecommerce platform, Fynd.

Others who participated in the round include Fynd’s existing investors: Kae Capital, IIFL, Singularity Ventures, GrowX, Tracxn Labs, Venture Catalyst, Patni family office and HongKong based Axis Capital among other angel investors.

The company plans to use the funding to enhance the way it engages with consumers and retailers in a better way.

Commenting on the investment, Seema Rao, Head of Corporate Development – India, Google, said, “Fynd has built an impressive, tech-first platform that has tremendous potential to scale within and beyond fashion and India. Fynd’s unique store-driven commerce approach, without inventory or warehouses, gives it a unique position in the marketplace.”

Founded in 2012 by Farooq Adam, Harsh Shah, and Sreeraman MG as Shopsense Retail Technology Pvt. Ltd, and pivoted to Fynd in November 2015, the platform functions via an O2O model and directly sources products across various categories – including clothing, footwear, jewellery, and accessories, from prominent brands in the country. The startup optimises delivery time by sourcing products from the outlets nearest to the customer.

On the funding, Harsh Shah, co-founder, Fynd said, “Fynd is growing steadily and has managed to seal some exciting partnerships in the past few months. Our vision is to revolutionize the online and offline shopping experience across all channels and customer touch-points. We expect that the capital raised will help us further bolster our growth trajectory.”

In 2017 alone, the Mumbai-based startup raised about $3.4 Mn spread across three rounds. The startup also counts people like Anand Chandrasekaran (Global Director, Platform/Partnerships at Facebook), Rajiv Mehta (CEO of Arvind Sports Lifestyle Limited), and Ramakant Sharma (co-founder of Livspace) among its investors.

With more than 8K outlets onboard, the O2O fashion ecommerce startup has been working essentially to enable customers to discover fashion in real-time and know the exact specifications of the products available.

In May 2016, Fynd launched Fify– a fashion shopping “botfriend.” Fify is a conversational commerce bot for discovery and transactions. Following that, in December 2016, it launched a new feature called ‘Fynd Store’, that aimed to provide retailers an opportunity to increase sales through omnichannel user-engagement.

Google Betting High On Indian Startups

The investment round led in Fynd is the second such investment by Google in India.

Earlier, in December 2017, Chat-based hyperlocal services app Dunzo raised $12 Mn funding from Google. The deal was done under the search giant’s Next Billion Users (NBU) push.

So far, Google has been funding and mentoring the Indian startups majorly through its Launchpad Accelerator program. Earlier in February 2017, Google also revealed that it has begun exploratory talks with Indian startups to make direct investments and acquisitions.

As the Indian ecommerce segment bolsters its growth propositions, the Indian online fashion market was pegged at $3.7 Bn in 2017, wherein Flipkart, with its subsidiaries Myntra and Jabong, claims to hold a 70% share.

In the $33 Bn worth ecommerce segment, Fynd has got a major boost to enhance its activities and product portfolio with the latest funding led by Google.