Online Gifting Platform Indian Gifts Portal Secures $2 Mn From Angel Investors

Online gifting platform Indian Gifts Portal (IGP) has reportedly secured $2 Mn (INR 13 Cr) from Naveen Arya, promoter, Karamchand Appliances and Tarun Joshi, Director, PE firm, 3i.

According to an official statement, Naveen Arya has made the investment in his personal capacity, and Tarun Joshi has reinvested in the company.

The funding will be used to develop machine learning technology for its gift-discovery portal. It will also be used to scale up senior management.

Founded in 2001 by Manan Sharma, IGP is managed by Intermesh Shopping Network Pvt. Ltd. It claims to be the largest platform for Indian ethnic products and gifts and has the largest collection of products that caters to Indian festivals and events.

As per its website, IGP offers its users gifting options from more than 190 categories including edible, perishables, apparel, and home appliances among others. It currently has four offices in India – Mumbai, Noida, Jaipur, and Lucknow, and one in Los Angeles, California.

Currently, flowers and cakes are its top product categories and the company also aims to personalise all the products it offers in the coming six months. As per an official statement, IGP currently follows an inventory-based model but at the same time charges its merchants a commission for flowers and cakes.

In June 2016, Bengaluru-based online gifting platform, Giftxoxo acqui-hired BookMyInterest, an online marketplace for hobbies and extra activities. In July, WeddingWishlist, a wedding gift registry portal, secured $297K (INR 2 Cr) in Seed funding.

Inc42 reported yesterday that leisure hospitality provider Mahindra Holidays acquired a 12% stake in Bengaluru-based Nreach Online Services Pvt. Ltd, which runs two brands, namely, Giftxoxo and Frogo. Earlier last month, social payments and gifting platform, CheersOye! raised an undisclosed amount of funding from angel investors.

This development was reported by KnowStartup.