E-commerce startup DealShare on Tuesday said that it has raised $21 million in a Series C funding round led by WestBridge Capital, along with Alpha Wave Incubation, a venture fund managed by Falcon Edge Capital, Z3Partners, existing investors Matrix Partners India and Omidyar Network India and a few independent angel investors.
This is DealShare’s single largest fund-raise so far. The startup has raised about $13 million in the previous rounds over the last two years.
DealShare, which claims to target value-conscious customers and offers grocery, daily use and household products, will use the proceeds for its next phase of its growth. The company plans to expand to newer geographies, penetrate deeper into current markets, expand local sourcing networks and strengthen its technology platform across business verticals.
Vineet Rao, founder and CEO, DealShare said that the latest investment round is a testament of investors’ confidence in its vision to bring the e-commerce experience to the masses, especially to the low- and mid–income population.
“We plan to use the funds to strengthen our technology platform & talent pool and scale our unique “Made-for-India” solution. Over the last two years, we have witnessed rapid adoption of our app amongst tier 2, 3 cities and will continue with this growth journey,” Rao said.
In terms of product offerings, Rao added that the firm will invest heavily into private labels in categories which are currently unbranded including pulses and fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) and also look at general merchandise such as household and fashion categories.
The pandemic-led disruption accelerated the process of customers turning online for essential buys and beyond, as lockdown restrictions continued. Large e-commerce marketplaces like Flipkart and Amazon India have already seen a spike in sales and onboarded new customers from metros and smaller cities.
“We are excited to partner with DealShare on their journey to tap the untouched potential of the e-commerce business into the mass population of the country. Majority of Indian population is currently residing in the non-metros and there is a huge business opportunity in these regions. The buying pattern of low- and middle-income group is different especially in smaller markets and DealShare seems to have understood the nuances very well,” said Sandeep Singhal, co-founder and managing director, WestBridge Capital.
DealShare, unlike other e-commerce firms which started with metros and now looking at Tier 3, 4 cities as growth levers, had begun with Jaipur.
Currently, it has large presence in Rajasthan along with Gujarat, Maharashtra, Karnataka and National Capital Region (NCR). About 80% of its user base is from smaller cities and it is also experimenting with semi-urban and rural areas.
The startup, which currently delivers about 25,000 daily orders, plans to scale up its 20-lakh customer base to a crore of customers by 2021-end.
“With this investment, we will augment our brand presence across existing and new markets. Over the next one year, we are targeting to increase our footprint to 100 cities and towns across five states. We will also increase our customer base to 1 crore. This investment will take us to an annual GMV (gross merchandise value) of ₹2500 crore”, said Sourjyendu Medda, founder and chief business officer, DealShare.
“DealShare brings together a focused assortment that is differentially procured. This, when coupled with the delight of discovery and a gamified shopping experience, drives robust repeat usage and cohort behaviour. These factors coupled with creative first principles driven fulfilment drive exciting unit economics,” said Navroz D. Udwadia, co-founder and partner, Falcon Edge.