Kalaari And Unilever Back Ecommerce Startup Shop101 In $11 Mn Funding Round

Social ecommerce startup Shop101 has raised $11.3 Mn (INR 80 Cr) in a Series B funding round led by Kalaari Capital and Unilever Ventures. The round came in less than five-months after the startup raised $5 Mn (INR 35.34 Cr) from Stellaris Venture Partners. Vy Capital, TaxiForSure cofounder Raghunandan G, and Livspace cofounder Ramakant Sharma.

The startup looks to boost its core leadership team, scale up the supplier network and deepen its technology platform with the latest fund infusion – a total of about $16 Mn (INR 113.11 Cr). As Rahul Chowdhri, Partner, Stellaris Venture Partners said in an earlier media statement, “With a deep focus on technology, Shop101 enables entrepreneurs to sell on social platforms and to procure supply directly from manufacturers and brands.”

Shop101 was founded by Abhinav Jain and Aditya Gupta in 2015 and was officially launched in early 2016. It enables entrepreneurs to sell online as well as on WhatsApp, Facebook and Instagram with zero investment by providing an online store in less than two minutes.

Established merchants, as well as budding entrepreneurs including housewives, college students and young graduates, can put up their own products or resell from an extensive range of products available on the Shop101 supply platform.

The platform helps them by providing end-to-end order processing, inventory management, pan-India logistics (including cash on delivery), payment support, and a wide range of suppliers.

The company claims to have grown 25-30% month-on-month over the last couple of years and have empowered more than 3 lakh entrepreneurs across the country.

“Our vision at Shop101 is to democratise commerce by creating an alternative distribution channel and empowering budding entrepreneurs, including housewives, college students and young graduates who want to start a business – right from setting up to scaling it pan-India,” Abhinav Jain, founder of Shop101, said in a media statement.

Other notable players in this space are Meesho, Zepo, and Shopmatic among others.

According to Google and Boston Consulting Group, India has about 50 Mn registered small businesses and at present, about one million of them are online, mostly selling through Facebook and WhatsApp. It is expected that 10 Mn of these businesses will be online by 2020. A 2017 Zinnov Report further stated that online resellers space has been projected to grow to $48 Bn-$60 Bn by 2022.

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