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LafaLafa, a mobile-first coupons and cashback app, has been chosen for the 500 startups Accelerator Program.
Owned by Yellow Brick Road Digital Marketing Ltd., LafaLafa will be the part of Batch 15 of 500 Startups Accelerator Program and will receive a seed investment of $125K. It will also give the startup an opportunity to spend four months in Mountain View, California.
Founded by Yosha Gupta and launched in January 2015, LafaLafa is a coupons and cashback aggregator. It currently offers coupons for 500+ websites like Flipkart, Paytm, Amazon and Snapdeal, among others. LafaLafa enables its users to receive cashback whenever they purchase from partner stores.
“We feel incredibly proud to be part of the #500STRONG family. It’s a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity and we can’t wait to get to Mountain View and learn from the best minds in technology, product and distribution channels to build and scale LafaLafa further,” said Yosha.
LafaLafa is now focusing on exclusive partnerships, conversational commerce and target recommendations as a strategy to maintain its position as a market leader.
LafaLafa’s Android app has already seen over 300,000 downloads. The startup closes about 1,000 transactions, on an average, every month. Its platform has an active network of 500+ partners and mostly Indian hyperlocal startups. LafaLafa claims to be the only cashback business with corporate tie-ups such as WeChat and Aircel for real-time mobile recharge as a redemption option.
The revenue comes from commission on driving transactions. For high-end products such as fashion apparels, the commission ranges from 20-25%, while for electronics it can range anywhere from 3-5%.
The Facebook Start Program, which recognizes and promotes good mobile apps has already credited LafaLafa with access to $30K worth of credit across tools like Facebook advertising and Parse credits for Push notifications.
Currently operating out of Gurgaon and Hong Kong, LafaLafa has claimed to be driving a GMV of $304K (INR 2 Crores) for partner ecommerce stores like Flipkart, Paytm, Snapdeal and Amazon.
The firm now plans to maintain a healthy balance between the demand (partners) and the supply side (customers). It is also looking at targeting recommendation of offers based on user preferences, which promises to make the customer experience seamless and personalized.
The 500 startups is a venture capital fund and startup accelerator based in Silicon Valley. So far, it has invested in over 1200 companies across the world.
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