NearU Raises Funding From International Marketing Guru Goutam Challagalla

Mumbai-based O2O startup NearU has raised an undisclosed amount of funding from Dr. Goutam Challagalla, international marketing guru and professor at IMD business school, Switzerland.

NearU team will utilise the expertise and knowledge of Dr. Challagalla for its future marketing plans and expansion in international regions.

Dr. Challagalla is a Professor of Marketing at IMD, Switzerland.  He has advised several Fortune 500 companies including 3M, IBM, HSBC, UPS, Ernst & Young, GE, Swatch Group and many more.  He has assisted clients on developing a market strategy, designing a marketing and sales organisation, and customer service.‎

Talking about the investment, Dr. Challagalla said, “NearU app is an innovative marketing platform for the retailers and i see a lot of potential in its vision. It’s just not a financial investment but it’s an investment of interest and passion.”

NearU was founded by Hemanth Meka Rao in June 2015. It is a location-based mobile app for discovery & deals, based on an ‘Online-to-Offline’ model with an ‘App to Retail’ concept that connects the user to outlet. The app showcases live information on the best retail brands near the user. Users can find exciting deals and offers near him/her, thus facilitating sales promotion & retail marketing activities of brands at their outlets.

The NearU App has streamlined these offers into nine wide categories of apparels, accessories, food & beverage, electronics, health & beauty, entertainment, home & living, hotels, and automobiles. It is currently present in 8 major cities across India.

Prior to this in May 2016, Mumbai-based AdTech startup Machadalo raised $175K in a seed round of funding from IIT alums, serial entrepreneurs, angels, and fund managers.