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<ul><li><keyword id="3480589" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="meesho" source="Orion">Meesho</keyword> is the new kid on the block that has emerged as a challenger to <keyword id="18635" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="amazon" source="Orion">Amazon</keyword> and <keyword id="6354742" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="flipkart" source="Orion">Flipkart</keyword> with 120 mn users</li><li>Aims to bring 100 mn small sellers across India online</li><li>The newly minted unicorn is looking at going public in less than two years after it turns profitable.</li></ul>Shaan Ansari is a 19-year old entrepreneur who lives in the historic city of Panipat, 100 kms north of Delhi, and he may never qualify for any list celebrating under-20 entrepreneurs, but his story is no less inspiring than Ranveer Singh’s character in Gully Boy. The pandemic put his father out of work and Ansari out of school back in 2020. When crisis struck, Ansari went scouting for opportunities online that would require zero investment and he found it in Meesho, a social commerce platform that is designed to help solo entrepreneurs and small businesses sell their wares to a wider audience. Ansari sourced bath mats and door mats made locally and started selling them on Meesho. When his suppliers could not meet the demand, Ansari borrowed money to start his own factory. Today he manufactures these mats from a rented factory, employs 50 people and clocks revenues of ₹30 lakh a month. It is transformational stories like Ansari’s that keep Meesho’’s co-founder and CEO Vidit Aatrey and his team going. Recalling his trip to Panipat, Aatrey, says, “The neighbourhood that Ansari lives in is a really humble one and his home actually doubles up as a warehouse. When I visited him, his staff and family offered dry fruits with chai. Ansari kept telling us how his family’s fortunes have changed after he discovered Meesho. As a team we travel every quarter to listen to sellers like Ansari on our platform and are now attempting to solve some of their other financial needs so that they don’t have to go to money lenders for working capital needs.” <div type="image" title="Meesho_1 (1)" height="900" width="1200" msid="93702892" hostid="261"></div> 100 million sellers to reach a billion buyers Aatrey’s dream is to get a million local businesses online so that they expand their markets by selling wares across India, irrespective of where they are located. In the last two years, this new kid on the block has emerged as a challenger to the Big Boys of e-commerce. Meesho - which is a short code for ‘my shop’ - has gotten bigger after the pandemic with 120 million monthly active users (MAUs) in a short span of time. Flipkart and Amazon have 200 million registered users each. Meesho’s target is to have 100 million sellers on its platform and sell to a billion buyers. Meesho was born on the premise that for online commerce to genuinely offer value, local retailers had to go online. Unorganized retail accounts for 90% of India’s spends. But when Aatrey and his co-founder Sanjeev Bamwal discovered that the sellers were not coming online because the buyers were not all shopping online. The pandemic has enabled Meesho to bring a lot more local businesses online as it was a matter of their survival. Challenging Amazon and Flipkart In the early days, Meesho’s sales were driven by 15 million women resellers, who bought products from the platform and sold it through WhatsApp and Facebook groups. From being a social commerce platform driven by re-sellers, it today has a share of nearly 30% in total daily online deliveries. Of the 9 million e-commerce orders processed daily, Meesho accounts for 2.7 million, while the two biggies account for 5 million. Clearly, Meesho is the challenger that nobody expected would catch up with Amazon and Flipkart. Another interesting statistic says that of the 70 million shoppers online, only 10 million are digital natives. It is a no-brainer then that India’s small businesses can provide the network effect to any online commerce platform that chooses to target this segment. Meesho waded into this space back in 2015, but found it tough to convince small entrepreneurs to come online because their customers were not online either. Language barriers and quality of internet speeds were only a few reasons why sellers were not online. Even when they brought sellers online, their buyers were still not online nor was Meesho’s app on too many smartphones. This changed after the pandemic but before that it was Meesho’s army of 15 million women resellers that drove its gross merchandise value up until 2020. Meesho is called a social commerce channel because it has been built by women resellers who found a vocation and economic independence by reselling goods purchased from the platform on WhatsApp and Facebook groups. Between 2017 and 2020, 100% sales were happening through resellers. The share of these women resellers is now down to 20% as consumers have now started downloading the app. Meesho’s monthly average users stand at 120 million and 35 million users transact on the app every month. On an average, 110 million Indian shoppers bought on Meesho last year. Not surprising that investors have also queued up to invest in the company. After raising seed capital of $300,000 from angel investors in March 2016, Meesho is valued at $4.9 bn after its latest round of capital raise of $570 mn in September 2021. Its list of marquee investors include Soft Bank Vision Fund 2, Prosus, Fidelity Management and Research, Yuri Milner’s DST Partners, Sequoia, SAIF Partners and Y Combinator among others. Sellers turn brand ambassadors <div type="image" title="Meesho_2 (1)" height="900" width="1200" msid="93702936" hostid="261"></div> Currently, there are six lakh sellers like Ansari on Meesho and the start-up wants to take this to one million. This goal may be work-in-progress, but every week employees join the Meesho Sabha, a meeting where examples like Ansari are discussed at length so that the team does not take its eyes off the goal post. Even though Meesho continues with its outreach programme to help sellers, existing sellers have now become brand ambassadors who are helping others get online. The platform offers peer-to-peer learning in several languages for those who want to get started. Says Dhiresh Bansal, chief financial officer of Meesho, “We still do our outreach programmes but a lot of people are now coming to our platform, as they need to diversify by targeting newer markets. Also the younger generation is more progressive and are taking their family businesses online.” After its success in the last two years, Meesho’s working hard to resolve several issues of sellers on its platform. Most of these sellers have seen a sharp rise in demand for their products after going online and the need for working capital requirement has gone up sharply. Lucknow-based Suman Agrawal used to sell women’s fashion clothing at her boutique but has shut it down after her brand Rudraksh saw sales boom on Meesho. She currently manages 22,000 orders a month. There are several sellers in India who cannot go online because they don’t have the requisite GST number. Aatrey has been a votary of their cause for a while. In June this year, the GST Council cleared a proposal that will no longer require sellers on e-commerce platforms to have a GST registration, if their turnover is less than ₹40 lakh and ₹20 lakh for goods and services respectively. This rule will come into effect from January 2023. Aatrey believes that this will be a game changer for millions of small sellers across India. While the company is not looking to raise capital immediately, it has plans to turn profitable and then hit the markets in a couple of years. The e-commerce player is looking at tightening its belt on costs now that it has attained scale. If it has to turn profitable in under 2 years then Meesho will have to cut back on cashburn and conserve capital. Aatrey says, “This festive season will give us an indication if there is any slowdown. We have not seen that so far, so it will be something that we will learn from.” <div type="image" title="Meesho_3 (1) (1)" height="900" width="1200" msid="93703012" hostid="261"></div> SEE ALSO: <a target="_blank" class="c-link c-message_attachment__title_link" href="https://www.businessinsider.in/stock-market/news/sensex-slips-517-points-goes-below-the-60000-mark/articleshow/93701486.cms">Sensex slips 517 points, goes below the 60,000-mark</a> <a target="_blank" class="c-link c-message_attachment__title_link" href="https://www.businessinsider.in/stock-market/news/not-just-ev-makers-there-are-many-more-stocks-that-can-gain-from-ev-play/articleshow/93696654.cms">Not just EV makers, there are many more stocks that can gain from EV play</a>

Meet India’s Real Gully Boy: Vidit Aatrey of Meesho is taking the entrepreneurial dream deep inside Bharat

<ul><li> <keyword id="733500" type="General" weightage="80" keywordseo="accel" source="Orion">Accel</keyword>’s accelerator programme has pivoted to focus on two themes for early stage startups as it believes the opportunities are large in India and outside.</li><li> So far, <keyword id="6355999" type="General" weightage="60" keywordseo="ai" source="Orion">AI</keyword> has been used to analyse and predict consumer behaviour, but <keyword id="733500" type="General" weightage="80" keywordseo="accel" source="Orion">Accel</keyword> expects new startups that will help redefine the entire customer journey using <keyword id="6355999" type="General" weightage="60" keywordseo="ai" source="Orion">AI</keyword>.</li><li>If the economy has to double in the next ten years, then manufacturing will play a big role. </li></ul> As the third largest startup ecosystem in the world, India is home to more than 90,000 startups at the start of 2023. But the one question on top of everyone’s mind is: Where will the next Flipkart or Swiggy come from? With the era of easy money gone, the entire ecosystem – entrepreneurs, angel investors along with venture/private equity funds – are more interested in business models and path to profitability than they were ever before. Accel India, a leading venture capital firm that works with founders from seed to scale stages, has identified two key themes – AI and Industry 5.0 – as their next big bets. Accel should know this because the firm has invested very early on in startups like Flipkart, Swiggy, Freshworks and Zetwerk. The global venture firm is taking a structured approach to pursue opportunities that it believes will be very big in the next seven to ten years. Accel’s accelerator programme, Atoms 3.0, which it launched in 2021 has also pivoted from a horizontal programme to a thematic one. Says Barath Shankar Subramanian, partner at Accel, “Both these are here and now opportunities. Atoms gives us that early window into identifying some of those opportunities that will be relevant 7-10 years down the line because it is an early stage programme.” Accel launched its Atoms 3.0 in 2020 and so far two of its cohorts have raised $160 mn across 24 startups. In its third edition, the programe has been tweaked to focus on AI and Industry 5.0. This has been done after taking feedback from the entire ecosystem such that the programme could meet the needs of founders. Both these themes are here and now opportunities and the Atoms 3.0 gives the venture firm an early window into these opportunities that would become big 7-10 years down the line. Accel is not wrong in its choice of themes as both have immense potential. Since November 2022, generative AI (artificial intelligence) has touched the lives of students, elderly and consumers in many different ways. While students can get answers to their questions late into the night, stock market traders are asking AI powered astrology apps on what the stars foretell. Beyond the fun aspects, AI will transform B2C platforms and their interfaces. So far, AI has been used to analyse and predict consumer behaviour, but Accel expects new startups that will help redefine the entire customer journey using AI. In its blog, Seed to Scale, Accel says that it anticipates the birth of transformative consumer startups redefining how businesses can cater to both consumer needs &amp; desires. Manufacturing – the other theme that Accel is betting on – is already the talk of town. Accel has already made investments in ten companies in the Industry 5.0 space, with Zetwerk and Detect Technologies being its most successful bets. Explains Subramanian, “If the economy has to double in the next ten years, then manufacturing will play a big role. There are a lot of tailwinds to why manufacturing will take off in India. These opportunities will be both brownfield and greenfield. Because of what has happened in India on the digital side over the last ten years, we are seeing that there is a market and the proxy for that is looking at digital transformation spending. The new age greenfield manufacturing facilities that will have to focus on digital from day one. These tailwinds are at play.” The VC firm is certain that manufacturing in India is a long-term trend and both existing manufacturing companies and new age ones will have to digitise their operations. What the Atoms Programme does is to help the new startups attain scale much faster as it has thanks to the learnings they have from the earlier investments. Accel now does not need to reinvent the wheel as its Atoms 3.0 is customised for founders in India. Adds Subramanian, “A lot of thought goes into a new vertical since we are still looking for the next large company coming out of India. The next Flipkart and Swiggy will come from AI or Industry 5.0.” “While many in the industry see Industry 5.0 as the SaaS for manufacturing, Subramanian says that while it may look like that but it is not. The next wave of companies in this space will be more enterprise-led and solutions will be co-created with large companies. Large enterprises in manufacturing spaces outside India have been slower to move as they are dealing with legacy systems. There is an opportunity in India here and now, which can later be taken outside India as well over time”, Subramanian adds. Accel has categorised the opportunity into three baskets – people, processes and machines – and any opportunity that interjects one of these or a combination of these is 5.0 for Accel. One of its portfolio companies is a good example of what startups can do in the space without actually setting up factories. Detect Technologies partners with the companies to reduce safety violations on a consistent basis. In the past, there would be cameras and people would monitor it manually, but this process can be machine-led and companies are willing to pay for it. Going forward, Accel is of the view that real businesses that make money will come from these verticals. Accel has five focused verticals – consumer, B2B, SaaS, fintech and digital health. Largely, everything the VC firm has done fits into these categories. It’s philosophy too has not changed, which is to catch startups young and to stay with them for the next ten years or so. Accel’s past record shows that it has managed to identify the right themes ahead of others. Its Fund II was largely focused on horizontal marketplaces, while Fund III (2012) was about SaaS companies. Its Fund IV took bets on consumer services startups like Swiggy and Urban Company, while Find V was B2B marketplaces. Now Fund VI is doubling down on B2B marketplaces and horizontal SaaS opportunities. “At the simplest level, we work on global themes and then we double down on it if we see India is ahead of that trend,” adds Subramanian.

The next Flipkart or Swiggy will come from AI or Industry 5.0, says Accel’s Barath Subramanian

Indian billionaire <keyword id="6364080" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="binny-bansal">Binny Bansal</keyword>, is an internet entrepreneur who co-founded Flipkart along with Sachin Bansal in 2007 and stayed with the company until 2018 when Walmart bought it over. Here are a few <keyword id="8866696" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="interesting-facts-about-Binny-bansal">interesting facts about Binny Bansal</keyword> some of which will inspire you and the others may be a warning. From Chandigarh to IIT Delhi Binny Bansal hailed from Chandigarh, the common capital of Punjab and Haryana. Sachin bansal, his business partner too was from the same place. They met each other at IIT, Delhi as students of Computer Science Engineering before they set up Flipkart. The maker of unique car sensors After graduating from IIT-Delhi, Binny started his career with a research and development firm, Sarnoff Corporation, India where he designed car sensors that were programmed to give automatic beep sounds if the driver changed lanes without giving signal. Building a business and losing it all <a href="https://successstory.com/people/binny-bansal">Binny said he founded Flipkart after</a> Google rejected him twice, once in 2005 and then in 2006. Before starting Flipkart, Binny worked for Amazon for about nine months and in 2007, Binny and Sachin launched Flipkart, with a capital of ₹4 lakh, as a platform to sell books. Flipkart started in a small flat in Koramangala delivering books ordered online. It is said that Sachin dreamt of big ideas and Binny executed them. During the initial days, both of them took turns to deliver the consignments on a scooter. He served as a Chief Operating Officer until 2016 where he earned a reputation for being ‘The Operational Guy’, and ‘The Executioner’. He became the CEO in 2016 and then the Group CEO in 2017. The employees at Flipkart <a href="https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/small-biz/startups/newsbuzz/binny-bansal-once-flipkarts-engine-now-the-kart-runs-without-him/articleshow/66629215.cms">described Binny as a calm and highly approachable person</a>. Though he ran a multi-million dollar firm so successfully, he was always willing to learn to improve himself. He participated in a <a href="https://www.livemint.com/Companies/VVgc0VII28w6w2aSQ4V0dP/Flipkarts-other-Bansal-comes-to-the-fore.html">personality training and leadership coaching in 2014</a>. From a small beginning, Binny Bansal, along with his friend Sachin Bansal, turned Flipkart into a massive online e-commerce venture that was bought over by Walmart in 2018 for a whopping $16 billion. Binny Bansal, the billionaire According to Forbes, Binny Bansal has a net worth of $ 1.3 billion. In 2017, <a href="http://www.skillstic.com/binny-bansal-biography/">India Today</a> ranked him in the 26th position along with Sachin Bansal among the 50 most powerful people. <a href="http://www.skillstic.com/binny-bansal-biography/">TIME named the two friends</a> among the 100 most influential people in 2016. The fall from grace Binny Bansal stepped down from his position as CEO of the company in November, 2018 following an internal review after an allegation of personal misconduct. Although the allegation was taken down, it was Binny Bansal’s lack of transparency in the matter that cost him his job. "While the investigation did not find evidence to corroborate the complainant's assertions against Binny, it did reveal other lapses in judgement, particularly a lack of transparency, related to how Binny responded to the situation. Because of this, we have accepted his decision to resign," <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/meghabahree/2018/11/13/flipkart-ceo-binny-bansal-resigns-after-probe-into-personal-misconduct/#4a3e39f55ac3">Flipkart had</a> said in the statement then. SEE ALSO: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/interesting-facts-about-ola-founder-bhavish-aggarwal/articleshow/71186840.cms">Ola Founder Bhavish Aggarwal</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/10-interesting-facts-about-ratan-tata-that-you-should-know/articleshow/69914798.cms">Facts about Ratan Tata</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/interesting-facts-about-oyo-founder-ritesh-agarwal/articleshow/70417612.cms">Ola founder Ritesh Agarwal</a>

Interesting facts about Binny Bansal, the co-founder and former ceo of Flipkart to inspire you

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Meet India’s Real Gully Boy: Vidit Aatrey of Meesho is taking the entrepreneurial dream deep inside Bharat

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The next Flipkart or Swiggy will come from AI or Industry 5.0, says Accel’s Barath Subramanian

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Interesting facts about Binny Bansal, the co-founder and former ceo of Flipkart to inspire you

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