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<keyword id="6357066" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="ShopClues">Shopclues</keyword> is the e-commerce company that has always been there quietly building up to a unicorn. With 5cr listed products and over 5,00,000 merchants, the company ships in over 30, 000 pin codes across India and has thousands of online stores. 
 
A marketplace with close to 100 million monthly visitors, this company has seen over 4x growth in its GMV (Gross Merchandise Value) from January 2015 making it the fastest growing e-commerce company in India. 
 
Next year may see the founders taking ShopClues public, as they expect the business to become profitable by the end of 2017. 
 
<a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/exclusive-app-relied-on-by-investors-shows-that-paytm-clearly-lead-the-e-wallets-pack-in-december-2016/articleshow/56519390.cms">ALSO READ: Exclusive: App relied on by investors shows that PayTM clearly lead the e-wallets pack in December 2016</a> 
 <keyword id="824043" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Business-Insider">Business Insider</keyword> caught up with <keyword id="118292" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Sanjay-Sethi">Sanjay Sethi</keyword>, CEO and <keyword id="1976141" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Radhika-Aggarwal">Radhika Aggarwal</keyword>, Co-founder, Shopclues to find out what they think will be the future of e-commerce. 
 “When we started, we wanted to focus on the country’s sellers and still, we are focusing on our merchants. We are focused on unstructured categories where we don’t dictate the kind or the quality of the product that our sellers want to sell,’’ says Radhika <keyword id="11517" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Aggarwal">Aggarwal</keyword> who started Shopclues in 2011 with <keyword id="419" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="sanjay">Sanjay</keyword> and her husband Sandeep. 
 
Festive season 
 “We don’t compare ourselves to any other players like <keyword id="6354742" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Flipkart">Flipkart</keyword> or <keyword id="541988" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="SnapDeal">Snapdeal</keyword> because our products cater to tier-2 and tier-3 cities. This festive season we grew in categories like lifestyle, clothing, kitchen, accessories etc,’’ says Aggarwal. 
 
<a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/dating-app-woo-reveals-what-women-are-searching-for-in-men/articleshow/56474858.cms">ALSO READ: Dating app Woo reveals what women are searching for in men</a> 
 
Offline vs. Online 
 
Shopclues is reaching out to offline merchants to come online on their platform by offering them services that we enable them to come online. With online companies going offline like <keyword id="18635" type="CITY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Amazon">Amazon</keyword> with Amazon Now, Shopclues thinks that the gap between online vs. Offline commerce is diminishing. 
“It doesn’t make sense to not be online for any merchant. I feel very bullish about the omnichannel route which will become the norm in the near future’’ says Sethi. 
 
New Markets 
 
“Whenever new channels open, the old system is threatened. Seeing online as a threat doesn’t make sense anymore as it is just a more convenient platform. When over-funded companies try to give customers more discounts, then it threatens the system without the ability to do that'' Sethi laments. 
 
<a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/why-e-commerce-companies-focus-on-fashion-to-become-profitable/articleshow/56521828.cms">ALSO READ: Why e-commerce companies focus on fashion to become profitable</a> 
 
Barriers 
​ Shopclues is really looking forward to <keyword id="6354679" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="20" keywordseo="GST">GST</keyword> because the company thinks that it will create a level-playing field for all companies. “There is a huge disparity between tax systems which will be reduced with GST. GST will take away the artificial boundaries that are created with states in the countries.’’

Exclusive:
Shopclues predicts how the E-commerce space
will turn out in 2017

ShopClues is a dark horse in the e-commerce sector which announced their focus on building Fashion as a fast-growing category. The Unicorn has targeted the online fashion business in a distinct segment with a differentiated approach. The focus for the company is on value &amp; mid-price segments which today comprise 75% of the online fashion market. 

 <div type="embedgroup"> <div type="Article" hostid="261" msid="59141983" title="Here’s how this Mumbai restaurant is redefining sushi for Indians" rank="1.0" kind="RELATED" publishDate="Jun 14, 2017, 7:30 PM" mstype="2" mssubtype="0"></div></div> <keyword id="1976141" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Radhika-Aggarwal">Radhika Aggarwal</keyword>, Co-Founder &amp; Chief Business Officer, ShopClues.com told Business Insider, “Currently, India's <keyword id="6362766" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Apparel">apparel</keyword> and lifestyle market is a $92 bn industry. However, according to recent reports, only 2% of that is currently online. This is the fastest growing category and reaches 24% of online consumers in India. Today’s fashion consumer is seeking a variety that helps them be trendy every day, and ShopClues offers precisely that at pocket-friendly prices. We have exponentially scaled up our offerings in this category including clothing, jewelry, fashion accessories and footwear.” <div type="embedgroup"> <div type="Article" hostid="261" msid="59163688" title="Here’s how you can achieve profitability according to Knowlarity&amp;#39;s founder" rank="1.0" kind="RELATED" publishDate="Jun 15, 2017, 7:25 PM" mstype="2" mssubtype="0"></div></div>


Presently, the Lifestyle category contributes to 50% of ShopClues’ total orders - between men’s clothing, women’s clothing, footwear and accessories. The fashion GMV has doubled in FY 2016-17 over FY 2015-16. According to the company, growth has been attained, even while improving the bottom-line, in an industry where the common practice is to erode profitability to drive GMV growth. 

 <div type="embedgroup"> <div type="Article" hostid="261" msid="59123070" title="This Indian startup is now launching in the US. Here&amp;#39;s why" rank="1.0" kind="RELATED" publishDate="Jun 13, 2017, 12:58 PM" mstype="2" mssubtype="0"></div></div>


With various services offered to merchants ranging from digitization to advertising and brand building, ShopClues works with over 2 lakh merchants in the Fashion Category alone &amp; has an assortment of about 4 million products including craft-based products, regional products as well as branded products. 80% of the merchants are SMEs &amp; the remaining 20% are regional brands, mid-tier &amp; national brands.

Exclusive: Radhika Aggarwal, Co-founder, ShopClues says the Focus is now on Fashion

' She was on one of the panels of the <keyword id="3003094" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="80" keywordseo="Startup-India">Startup India</keyword> Summit. <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=Radhika+Ghai+Aggarwal">Radhika Ghai Aggarwal</a>, Co-Founder, <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=ShopClues">ShopClues</a> has come a long way. She believes the company would be profitable bu 2017, and handles one of India’s biggest managed marketplaces. 
 
BI Insider India caught up with her after the <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=Startup+India">Startup India</a> event, and this is what she had to say: 
 
“Modi has done what he does best. He has acted like a disruptive startup. Most importantly, he got rid of the License Raj. What he has really done in the licensing and taxation policies is allowing Indian startups to succeed, and fail”, Aggarwal says. 
 
Anything that could have been done, or done better? 
 
“We can ease the process of foreign investors coming into India a little more easily. We can also encourage India-born VCs to invest in Indian companies”, she says. 
 
Way to go Radhika! 
 
Image credit: Kenathjayashankarmenon.wordpress.com

Radhika
Aggarwal, Co-founder, ShopClues on Startup India Policy

India’s <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=e-commerce&amp;sortorder=effectivedate">e-commerce</a> sector, which has so far seen money being pumped in via <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=venture+capital&amp;sortorder=effectivedate">venture capital</a> and <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=private+equity&amp;sortorder=effectivedate">private equity</a>, will soon see its second <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=IPO&amp;sortorder=effectivedate">IPO</a> listing. 
 
On Sept 30th last year, <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=e-commerce&amp;sortorder=effectivedate">e-commerce</a> firm Infibeam received a green signal from <keyword id="35210" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="40" keywordseo="sebi">SEBI</keyword>, India’s stock market regulator, to raise around $68.9 million via an <keyword id="35216" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="40" keywordseo="initial-public-offering">initial public offering</keyword> (<keyword id="6354763" type="EVENT" weightage="60" keywordseo="IPO">IPO</keyword>). Now, <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=ShopClues&amp;sortorder=effectivedate">ShopClues</a> says it’ll be ready for IPO in 2017. 
 
“We do plan to go for an <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=IPO&amp;sortorder=effectivedate">initial public offering</a> (IPO). By the end of next year, we will be ready for IPO,” Radhika said this month. 
 India’s tech <keyword id="6362513" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="20" keywordseo="Startups">startups</keyword> have largely stayed away from listing on domestic stock exchanges. That’s mainly because <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=SEBI&amp;sortorder=effectivedate">SEBI</a> was judging startups on the same parameters as legacy companies. However, in June last year, SEBI announced a fresh set of norms to facilitate easier listing of startups. 
 “As one of the first few <keyword id="35621" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="80" keywordseo="e-commerce">e-commerce</keyword> companies going public, we have set the expectations for the industry. The expectations will never come down from now. Decisions need to be taken”, <keyword id="1976141" type="PERSON" weightage="80" keywordseo="Radhika-Aggarwal">Radhika Aggarwal</keyword>, Co-founder and Chief Business Officer of <keyword id="6357066" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="40" keywordseo="ShopClues">ShopClues</keyword> said. 
 
There has been a lot of speculation about <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=Flipkart&amp;sortorder=effectivedate">Flipkart</a>’s IPO since 2015. However, even after a change of CEO, <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=Binny+Bansal&amp;sortorder=effectivedate">Binny</a> doesn’t seem too keen for an IPO for at least a couple of years. The company prefers to stay out of the spotlight as it works to become profitable. 
 
BSE-NSE listed Lloyd Electric’s Director Nipun Singhal said it best. “E-commerce is in the honeymoon period where they say they’ll change the way people do business, and then make money. They have the luxury of time. For us, in the traditional businesses, the moment a fund buys your stock, every quarter they’ll grill you.”

ShopClues CBO Radhika Aggarwal on
the rigors of an IPO

<a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=Radhika+Aggarwal">Radhika Aggarwal</a> is India's most successful <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=internet+entrepreneur">internet entrepreneur</a> and the first and only woman in the Unicorn Club. She's the co-founder and CBO at <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=ShopClues">ShopClues</a>.

	Business Insider sat down with Radhika to chat about <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=entrepreneurship">entrepreneurship</a>, life and <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=ShopClues">ShopClues</a> for women.<o:p></o:p>

	Do people still stereotype the woman entrepreneur?<o:p></o:p>

	Its not as much about stereotyping. The challenges are the same in <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=entrepreneurship">entrepreneurship</a>, man or woman.<o:p></o:p>

	The only challenge is that because there are so few of us, people end up asking questions like, "how do you ensure work-life balance?" You need a support system at home and work as your responsibilities grow.<o:p></o:p>

	Do <keyword id="6359051" type="COMPANY" weightage="60" keywordseo="investors">investors</keyword> ask woman-specific questions?<o:p></o:p>

	Many of my colleagues say they get these questions. <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=Investors">Investors</a> have been very supportive in my case. One way you can mitigate these questions is by having a strong team.<o:p></o:p>

	How can we increase woman representation in tech?<o:p></o:p>

	In the US there is a lot of emphasis on coding. In India we need more emphasis on maths and science at a mid-school level. There should be a lot of incentives for young girls to take up Science. <o:p></o:p>

	Are you scared of the valuation bubble burst?<o:p></o:p>

	Not at all. Till now, the focus for companies has been on raise and burn. You raise enough money, and burn it to raise GMV. <o:p></o:p>

	We've never run the company like that. The shift in investor sentiment is hugely in our favor. Now they're appreciating even more the cost-effective model we've built.<o:p></o:p>

	What's your GMV to net revenue ratio?<o:p></o:p>

	We're current at $700-800 million GMV, and 10-12% net revenue. We plan to operationally break even by the first quarter of 2017.<o:p></o:p>

	What percentage of <keyword id="6357066" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="ShopClues">ShopClues</keyword> consumers are women?<o:p></o:p>

	Around 23-25% are woman. Interestingly, around 25% merchants are women as well. That means around 80,000 of our total 3,50,000 merchants are woman.<o:p></o:p>

	Why is India's e-commerce consumer base primarily male driven?<o:p></o:p>

	That's a reflection of our society. Most woman in the tier II and tier III cities use their husband's smartphone. Interesting, around 18-20 months ago, a mere 7-8% of our consumers women. The recent sharp hike is primarily due to widespread <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=smartphone+adoption">smartphone adoption</a> and access to the internet.<o:p></o:p>

	Unique woman shopping behavior.<o:p></o:p>

	Women representation is very strong in the <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=Home+and+Kitchen">Home and Kitchen</a> and <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=Apparel">Apparel</a> segment. The Children Education sector is also taking off. Women have stronger loyalty and more individual purchases over the year.<o:p></o:p>

	Advice to young Woman entrepreneurs.<o:p></o:p>

	Participate with your whole heart. Don't be risk averse. More often we imagine risks, and play safe. Be courageous. 
	<o:p></o:p>

The glorious rise of Radhika Aggarwal, India’s only Woman-Startup founder in the Unicorn Club

<ul><li><keyword id="6357066" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="Shopclues">Shopclues</keyword> has finally been sold to Singapore-based <keyword id="8279466" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="Qoo10">Qoo10</keyword> in an all stock deal. </li><li>The <keyword id="7321558" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="unicorn-startup">unicorn startup</keyword> was sold at a valuation ranging between just $70-100 million. </li><li>This year, Shopclues had been at the centre of multiple failed attempts at mergers as it tried to survive.</li></ul>Indian unicorn e-commerce startup Shopclues has finally <a href="https://tech.economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/internet/shopclues-acquired-by-singapore-based-qoo10/71839928">found</a> a buyer in Singapore-based e-commerce platform Qoo10. Shopclues which was once valued at $1.1 billion-- is sold in an all stock deal for a reported valuation ranging between $70-$100 million. Here’s a look at how it all went down for the e-commerce startup. 2011 Shopclues was founded in July 2011 by Sanjay Sethi, Sandeep Aggarwal and Radhika Aggarwal. This was two years before Amazon came to India. It raised an angel round of funding. 2012 The startup raised its series A round of funding of $4 million. During this time, Shopclues had 2500 transactions a day and according to <a href="https://www.techcircle.in/2012/09/04/excl-shopclues-raises-4m-in-series-a-round-looking-to-gross-rs-100cr-sales-by-dec-2012">reports</a>, was hoping to turn profitable by 2013. 2013 Gaining momentum, Shopclues closes its series B round for $10 million from investors Nexus Venture Partners and Helion Venture Partners. 2014 Shopclues raised $15 million as a part of its series C round of funding from its existing investors. 2015 In 2015, the startup scooped up its Series D funding for $100 million, also welcoming Tiger Global to its board of investors. “Shopclues has emerged as the leading marketplace of choice for the millions of small and local businesses seeking to reach mass consumers in India’s tier 2 and tier 3 cities,” the then Tiger Global private equity business head Lee Fixel <a href="https://www.vccircle.com/e-com-marketplace-shopclues-raises-100m-series-c-funding-led-tiger-global/">had said.</a> It also registered a GMV of $400 million. 2016 Between late 2015 and early 2016, Shopclues closed its series E round of funding to join the prestigious unicorn club. It also brought back its dreams for profitability while also reportedly hoping for an IPO. 2017 Shopclues was caught in the middle of a very public spat between its founders – husband and wife duo Sandeep Aggarwal and Radhika. Aggarwal put out a post on Facebook accusing his wife of “an illicit affair” as well as ousting him from the company. It was also the year when the company’s <a href="https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/small-biz/money/shopclues-fy-17-revenue-up-5-losses-decline-by-13/articleshow/61539773.cms">revenue began slowing dow</a>n. In FY17, the company’s revenue grew by 5% instead of the usual 50% jump it had been seeing. Its losses stood at ₹332 crores. 2018 It managed to come back in the game with a 46% revenue jump and cutting down its losses to ₹208 crore in FY18. But at this time, Shopclues also <a href="https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/small-biz/startups/newsbuzz/shopclues-revenue-up-46-to-rs-273-crore/articleshow/66409043.cms">cut down</a> on operational costs, advertising spends and employee benefits. However, it was facing immense competition from Flipkart, Amazon, Paytm etc who were growing at breakneck speed. Meanwhile, Shopclues was focussing on its wholesale marketplace model. Once again, its plans to go in for an IPO in 2018, failed to see the light of the day. Multiple senior management <a href="https://www.thehindubusinessline.com/info-tech/top-level-exits-at-shopcluescom/article23263804.ece">exits</a> too began in the company. It also fired 50 employees across verticals. It also lost a legal fight with L’oreal, which had <a href="https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/small-biz/startups/newsbuzz/loral-india-wins-judgement-on-counterfeits-against-shopclues/articleshow/66652453.cms">accused</a> Shopclues of selling counterfeit products on its platform. 2019 Having survived on bridge rounds of investments, troubles started mounting for the company as its struggle to survive became public. The rumours of its probable sell began taking solid turns. Snapdeal (who was itself making a comeback from massive losses) was reported to be in talks with Shopclues for a possible merger, but the talks didn’t go through in the end. There were also rumours about ebay.in looking to <a href="https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/small-biz/startups/newsbuzz/ebay-in-talks-with-etailers-including-shopclues-for-a-fresh-bid-in-india/articleshow/65157378.cms">acquire</a> Shopclues. Shopclues also laid off about 200 employees to cut costs. Then came the news of its final sale to Singapore-based Qoo10 in an all stock deal, but with a massive fall in valuation. “This partnership presents new strategic opportunities for both companies, as it opens up cross-border opportunities for consumers and sellers across Asia,” the company said in a statement.

Once valued at $1.1 billion Shopclues finally gets sold for less than $100 million valuation

<keyword id="6357066" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="ShopClues">ShopClues</keyword>.com, the mass-market online retailer founded in 2011 by renowned wall-street analyst Sandeep Aggarwal, has received an undisclosed amount of funding in its Series E round. 
 
This funding has brought the retailer’s valuation at more than $1.1Billion. 
 
The round of capital infusion was led by GIC, which happens to be the largest sovereign wealth fund of Singapore. Existing investors of ShopClues.com, including major names like Tiger Global and Nexus Venture Partners, also participated in this funding round. 
 
“As a long-term investor, GIC believes in the strong growth potential of India's e-commerce industry. We are confident that ShopClues’ merchant-first mind-set and solid management team will enable the company to expand its reach, especially in the Tier-2 and Tier-3 cities, bringing its unique value proposition to even more consumers and merchants,” said Ravi Balasubramanian, GIC’s Head of Asia Equities Research. 
 
Sanjay Sethi, CEO &amp; Co-founder of ShopClues, had his two cents to share on the same. “ShopClues has consistently demonstrated that hyper-growth and strong business fundamentals are not mutually exclusive. The recent addition of GIC and the continued strong support from our existing investors is a validation of our capital efficiency with a clear path to profitability. This investment will enable us to double our focus on digitizing our merchants’ businesses so that they scale to fully leverage the opportunity online commerce provides them.” 
 
The gross merchandise volume (GMV) of online retailer has grown over four time since January 2015. They are currently shipping out over 3.5 million items on a monthly basis, thereby attracting more than 100 million visits per month. 
 
The business growth, which is accompanied by strong improvements in capital efficiency, is expected to prove profitable by H1 2017. 
“Today, we are the dominant player in low price-point &amp; unstructured categories like lifestyle, home, kitchen, electronic &amp; automotive accessories etc. Our focus on selection, value and trusted shopping for Indian middle class consumers has given us tremendous scale with a rapidly growing buyer &amp; merchant network. We are confident that our capital efficiency &amp; execution will make this our last fund raise before we become profitable with the eventual IPO in 2017,” said Radhika Aggarwal, Co-founder and Chief Business Officer of ShopClues. 
 
The capital raised in this funding round will be used to focus on building and rolling out new products so that SME merchants can be enabled to digitize their businesses. It would also be used to further establish itself as the e-commerce operating system on the cloud. 
 
Image source

ShopClues raises Series E at a valuation of $1.1 Billion

Gone are the days when bigger necessarily meant better for startups across the country. While a billion dollar valuation meant the world to upcoming entrepreneurs as early as a year back, with the global financial tides turning, the focus has shifted from big GMV figures to driving efficiency in business models. 
 
This comes at a time when well-funded hyper-local startups like <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=PepperTap&amp;sortorder=effectivedate">PepperTap</a> have shut down and larger ones like Grofers and Zomato have been forced to scale down operations. The so called ‘unicorns’ are struggling to raise funds, and recklessness with investors' money is punished with tighter purse-strings. 
 
Meet <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=Sandeep+Aggarwal&amp;sortorder=effectivedate">Sandeep Aggarwal</a>, co-founder of <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=ShopClues&amp;sortorder=effectivedate">ShopClues</a> and <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=Droom&amp;sortorder=effectivedate">Droom</a>. He was a wall-street analyst who bootstrapped his venture with his own funds and angel money that he raised from his friends and family till he first received institutional funding to the tune of $4 million in January 2012. 
 
Interestingly, Aggarwal’s latest startup <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=Droom&amp;sortorder=effectivedate">Droom</a> has a mere three employees in customer support. The company’s GMV to human resource ratio stands at $1 million annualized GMV per person. Aggarwal claims it’s the highest amongst startups in the country. His company is currently doing close to $170 million in annualized GMV. 
 
Business Insider sat down with Aggarwal to understand where machines can replace man, and where they can’t. 
 
Journey to automating <keyword id="2947589" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="Droom">Droom</keyword> 
While I’m proud of <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=ShopClues&amp;sortorder=effectivedate">ShopClues</a>, we still had to hire hundreds in customer support, and I didn’t want to repeat that mistake. 
 
It took me over a month to conceptualize Droom as a wireframe. I still remember, there were 127 slides. I thought through the workflow cycle, where one may need to call customer support, and what can and can’t be automated. 
 
Today we have only one supervisor and three employees in customer support. 
 
Potential of <keyword id="294572" type="TECHNOLOGY" weightage="80" keywordseo="machine-learning">machine learning</keyword> 
<a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=Machine+learning&amp;sortorder=effectivedate">Machine learning</a> will allow us to have similar, if not better results in customers support. I think we can touch Rs. 250 crores in GMV per customer support employee. We can improve on that with keywords-based FAQs. One can also use IVR. 
 
 ‘Labor is cheaper than tech’ 
That’s the kind of thinking that has limited us to the services industry. It’s time we create quality product and platform companies. Human resource is cheap because it accounts for limited financial exposure, human errors and lack of reporting. 
 
Technology replacing employment 
Technology may deem some redundant. It’s their job to adapt and re-train themselves. That’s called survival for the fittest. That way people would actually end up earning more than they are currently. 
 If we wouldn’t have had built <keyword id="6357066" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="ShopClues">ShopClues</keyword>’ returns platform, over 500 people would have been doing returns alone. While from a socialist perspective you could say that employs 500 people, it drives severe inefficiencies in the supply chain. 
 
Is it a sector-specific problem? 
It’s all about the founder’s vision and mindset. There are three types of founders – the marketing guy, the ops guy and the product guy. You can throw money at a problem, and get it solved. Automation for the first time may have its own set of problems than deploying manual labor. 
 Consider this, <keyword id="541988" type="COMPANY" weightage="60" keywordseo="SnapDeal">Snapdeal</keyword> is only 20-30% bigger than ShopClues in terms of GMV, but has a 7-8x bigger workforce. 
 
Challenges in automation in hyper-growth markets 
There is a price for everything. 
 
For hyper-growth sectors, you have to train yourself to ignore certain things. However, you shouldn’t be left trying to dig the well after the fire. 
 
The eternal debate that a machine doesn’t know right from wrong 
The best brain on earth is the human mind. There’s no substitute to that. 
 
However, in an assembly line scenario, there’s always the option to have a separate bin that can come under human inspection. Everything doesn’t boil down to a yes/no. Our technologies can also capture the scenario where there is no option but manual labor to step in. 
 
To scale quick, you have to automate certain processes. Repetitive things can actually burn human resources. Artificial Intelligence can anticipate how much information is worthy enough to process a decision. 
 
<a href="http://img.etimg.com/photo/51271877/image-4.jpg">Image Source</a>

Droom, a lesson in efficiency for startups

IITs rank fourth among popular universities globally which have produced unicorn founders, according to a report by Sage, a UK-based accounting and payroll company. 
 
In its study “Unicorn League”, the company has recently examinef what these $1 billion companies have in common, the schools which breed the most founders etc. 
 With 51 unicorn founders, <keyword id="33081" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="20" keywordseo="Stanford">Stanford</keyword> tops the chart followed by Harvard (37 founders). 
 At fourth position are IITs with 12 unicorn founders that include <keyword id="225032" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Sachin-Bansal">Sachin Bansal</keyword> and <keyword id="6364080" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Binny-Bansal">Binny Bansal</keyword> (<keyword id="6354742" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Flipkart">Flipkart</keyword>), Abhay Singhal (InMobi), Ankit Bhati and <keyword id="1543567" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Bhavish-Aggarwal">Bhavish Aggarwal</keyword> (Ola), <keyword id="476451" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="Deepinder-Goyal">Deepinder Goyal</keyword> (Zomato), <keyword id="1003724" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Jyoti-Bansal">Jyoti Bansal</keyword> (AppDynamics), K.V. Rao (<keyword id="2021781" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Zuora">Zuora</keyword>), Pankaj Chaddah (Zomato), <keyword id="396598" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Rohit-Bansal">Rohit Bansal</keyword> (<keyword id="541988" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="SnapDeal">Snapdeal</keyword>) and <keyword id="118292" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Sanjay-Sethi">Sanjay Sethi</keyword> (ShopClues.com). 
 
The study also found that 94% of founders were male, while only 30 of the 498 founders were female. 67% of unicorns were created by co-founders and 33% by single founders. For 60% of the founders, their current unicorn is the first and only company they’ve built. 
 
Also, those who founded more than one company have, on average, a 34.5% higher valuation than those who founded just one company ($4.29 billion versus $5.88 billion). 
 
The US has the most unicorn headquarters (144), followed by China (47) and India (10).The UK (9) leads the pack in Europe, followed by Germany (6). California (95) boasts the most headquarters, followed by New York (19) and Beijing (18). Consumer Internet (49) is the most common unicorn sector, ahead of software (48), e-commerce (37), financial services (22) and healthcare (18).

IITs stand fourth among popular universities globally which have produced Unicorn Founders: Report

Online marketplace <keyword id="6357066" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="ShopClues">ShopClues</keyword>, which recently joined the <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/ShopClues-raises-Series-E-at-a-valuation-of-1-1-Billion/articleshow/50547081.cms">billion-dollar</a> valuation club, has acquired Bengaluru-based startup <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/Shopclues-eyeing-Momoe-for-acquisition/articleshow/51391246.cms">Momoe </a>in a bid to build a payments business. This deal will mark ShopClues’s entry in Bengaluru, the start-up capital of the country. 
 All five <keyword id="2683896" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Momoe">Momoe</keyword> founders are also joining the senior management team of ShopClues, in several functions like design, corporate development and technology. 
 
As per ET reports, the deal is valued at $10-12 million, to be paid in both cash and stock; however, the deal size was not confirmed by Sanjay Sethi, ShopClues CEO. 
 
Momoe, which was founded by Utkarsh Biradar, Karthik Vaidyanathan, Ganesh Balakrishnan, Neelesh Bam, and Aiman Ashraf, has been in business for two years now. 
 
Biradar will be joining <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/Shopclues-goes-local/articleshow/51681993.cms">ShopClues </a>as VP, heading design and product on the merchant side; Balakrishnan will lead platform monetisation and services; Bam will head merchant acquisition helping ShopClues expand base in South India; Ashraf will head technology for payment and Vaidyanathan will work on strategic initiatives along with ShopClues cofounder <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/The-glorious-rise-of-Radhika-Aggarwal-Indias-only-Woman-Startup-founder-in-the-Unicorn-Club/articleshow/51309145.cms">Radhika Aggarwal</a>. 
 
"Momoe comes with a working merchant base, PCI compliance which would have taken us 8-12 months to obtain and banking relationships. Building a payments business requires a different DNA," said Sethi. 
 
Using Momoe's technology, ShopClues will be able to build payments solutions for its merchant base, for them to use it for not only online transactions but also for offline payments. 
 
<a href="http://blog.iimjobs.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/Mr.-Sanjay-Sethi-Co-Founder-CEO-ShopClues.com_.jpg">Image source</a>

ShopClues acquires mobile payment start-up Momoe to expand business

Online marketplace <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/exclusive-shopclues-predicts-how-the-e-commerce-space-will-turn-out-in-2017/articleshow/56592792.cms">ShopClues</a> is looking forward for a possible public share sale, as it struggles with internal disputes amongst co-founders. 
 
The Gurgaon-based company, which entered the <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/ShopClues-raises-Series-E-at-a-valuation-of-1-1-Billion/articleshow/50547081.cms">unicorn club</a> in January last year after exceeding the valuation of $1 billion, has been reportedly in talks with investment banks including <keyword id="6361649" type="CITY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Goldman-Sachs">Goldman Sachs</keyword> and Credit Suisse, two people in the know told ET. 
 
The issue is said to be ready for the first quarter of financial year 2018-19, and would have at least two investment banks as the lead book runners. 
 
Talking of the conflict, co-founders <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/slideshows/sai/heres-how-startups-like-oyo-paytm-snapdeal-reacted-to-budget-2017/sanjay-sethi-ceo-co-founder-shopclues/slideshow/56938870.cms">Sanjay Sethi</a> and Radhika Aggarwal are dealing with accusations from co-founder and former CEO Sandeep Aggarwal, regarding the issue of illegally taking away his voting rights. Both Sethi and Radhika Aggarwal have denied the charges, and are being supported by the company's board. 
 
In other development, <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/shopclues-launches-shopclues-surety-to-ensure-quality-products-on-its-platform/articleshow/57667609.cms">ShopClues</a> is looking to raise a fresh funding of somewhere between $75 million and $100 million, a transaction that's expected to be a mix of primary and secondary components from its investors Nexus Venture Partners, <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/billionaire-chase-colemans-tiger-global-made-a-nearly-500-million-bet-on-fiat/articleshow/57156399.cms">Tiger Global</a>, GIC (the sovereign fund of the government of Singapore), and Ronnie Screwvala, founder of Unilazer Ventures, among others. 
 
(Image source: LiveMint)

Internal conflicts aside, ShopClues might bring out an IPO

<keyword id="6357066" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="ShopClues">ShopClues</keyword>.com, India’s largest marketplace for small medium businesses (SMBs), has raised investment worth $100 million. The new round of investments was led by <keyword id="526777" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="Tiger-Global">Tiger Global</keyword>, one of the largest global institutional investors. 
 <keyword id="118292" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Sanjay-Sethi">Sanjay Sethi</keyword>, chief executive officer (CEO) and co-founder, ShopClues said, “So far we have brought 100,000 sellers and 10 million products online and the next three years will be focused on bringing 10 million sellers and 1 billion products to the online domain. We will continue to build Technologies &amp; services to enable and empower retailers to participate in the e-commerce revolution that is happening in India. ShopClues levels the playing fields for SMBs to compete with other organized retailers both in the online and offline space, said Sethi.” 
 
Lee Fixel from Tiger Global said in a statement, “ShopClues has emerged as the leading marketplace of choice for the millions of small and local businesses seeking to reach mass consumers in India’s tier two and tier three cities. Sanjay, Radhika and the team have done a great job aggregating the country’s largest online catalog of regional and local brands and we are excited to partner with ShopClues as it expands its offerings.” 
 
Elaborating about the deal, Radhika Ghai Aggarwal, co-founder, ShopClues said, “In Tiger Global, we found a strategic partner who showed confidence in our capability to operate the country’s largest marketplace for the masses – be it the millions of small merchants wanting to sell online or the vast pool of shoppers in tier 2/3 towns looking for access to the products and categories that they never had before. The fact that another ace investor has been added to our list of institutional investors is a strong endorsement of our team, strategy and business performance.” 
 
ShopClues was set up in 2011 as the country’s first fully managed marketplace. At present, ShopClues has 1.5 million transactions per month. More than 70% of its transactions come from tier two and three cities. ing about 40 million monthly visitors, it is growing by 600% year-on-year.

ShopClues.com Bags $100-million Investment

If you are an aspiring entrepreneur or a wantrepreneur equipped with a dream to create a billion-dollar business in India, one of the IITs is your best bet. 
 Unicorns are <keyword id="6362513" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="20" keywordseo="Startups">startups</keyword> with more than a billion-dollar valuation and the IITs have produced 12 unicorns. 
 
Sage, a UK-based accounting, and payroll company stated this in a research and reinstated the belief that the premier institution is still numero uno for attaining success. 
 
In terms of countries that are home to the most number of unicorns, US tops the list with 144 unicorns, followed by China with 47. India grabbed the third spot with 10. 
 
<a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/what-should-indian-start-ups-hope-for-in-budget-2017/articleshow/56893271.cms">ALSO READ: What should Indian startups hope for in Budget 2017</a> 
 
In the study that lists universities that have produced the most unicorn founders, the Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) bagged the fourth spot. 
 US-based <keyword id="101399" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="20" keywordseo="Stanford-University">Stanford University</keyword> claimed the top rank with 51 unicorn founders, followed by <keyword id="97117" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="20" keywordseo="Harvard-University">Harvard University</keyword> with 37. 
 The <keyword id="73593" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="20" keywordseo="University-of-California">University of California</keyword> came third with 18 unicorn founders and <keyword id="6354859" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="IIT">IIT</keyword> followed with 12 founders. 
 India is home to 10 unicorn companies from e-commerce giants <keyword id="6354742" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Flipkart">Flipkart</keyword>, <keyword id="541988" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="SnapDeal">Snapdeal</keyword> and ShopClues to cab aggregator Ola, restaurant aggregator Zomato, classified ads platform Quickr, digital payments company <keyword id="6357120" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="PayTM">Paytm</keyword>, mobile ad tech player InMobi, messaging app Hike and analytics company Mu Sigma. 
 Within the various IITs, it is Delhi that produced the maximum unicorn founders. <keyword id="6354867" type="CITY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Sachin">Sachin</keyword> and <keyword id="6364080" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Binny-Bansal">Binny Bansal</keyword> of Flipkart, <keyword id="118292" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Sanjay-Sethi">Sanjay Sethi</keyword> of ShopClues, Zomato founders <keyword id="476451" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="Deepinder-Goyal">Deepinder Goyal</keyword> and Pankaj Chaddah, Snapdeal's <keyword id="396598" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Rohit-Bansal">Rohit Bansal</keyword> and Quikr's <keyword id="1063538" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Pranay-Chulet">Pranay Chulet</keyword> and <keyword id="2124885" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="Jiby-Thomas">Jiby Thomas</keyword> (now founder of <keyword id="4123624" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="webbutterjam-digital">Webbutterjam Digital</keyword>) are all products of <keyword id="57604" type="CITY" weightage="20" keywordseo="iit-delhi">IIT Delhi</keyword>. 
 
<a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/exclusive-what-moms-want-from-the-budget-2017/articleshow/56872243.cms">ALSO READ: Exclusive: What moms want from the Budget 2017</a> 
 Ola's founders <keyword id="1543567" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Bhavish-Aggarwal">Bhavish Aggarwal</keyword> and <keyword id="2412264" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="Ankit-Bhati">Ankit Bhati</keyword> went to IIT Bombay. 
 Inmobi's founders Naveen Tiwari, Abhay Singhal and <keyword id="75744" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Amit-Gupta">Amit Gupta</keyword> studied at IIT Kanpur while their co-founder <keyword id="2682435" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Mohit-Saxena">Mohit Saxena</keyword> went to IIT Roorkee. 
 
<a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/take-a-tour-of-oyo-rooms-attractive-new-property-townhouse/articleshow/56781794.cms">ALSO READ: Take a tour of OYO's attractive new property: OYO Townhouse</a> 
 
According to the study, for over 60% of the founders all over the world, the current unicorn company was the only company they had ever built. However, indicating that experience literally pays, the research said those who founded more than one company have, on average, a 34.5% higher valuation than those who founded just one company ($4.29bn vs $5.88bn).

The IITs are the fourth largest producer of unicorn startups in
the world

The festival season is almost here and guess who’s ready for the biggest catch in the ecommerce segment? It’s not the online retailers but the last-mile delivery companies. 
 
So how are the etailers making a difference? To make things move fast, they are shipping directly from the merchant if the buyer is in the same city or region - instead of routing through company fulfilment centres - as well as short-term tie-ups with regional and intra-city logistics players. This also means a rise in short-term job openings in the logistics segment. 
 
Companies such as Snapdeal, Flipkart, Paytm and ShopClues are working on both models, while Amazon recently announced a flex programme with a direct merchant-to-customer shipping option. 
 
"We have tied up with around 12 regional logistics partners who are delivering products across categories including fashion, electronics, appliances, furniture and other home categories. Some of these partners are hyperlocal-specific partners, fulfilling the orders directly from seller to the user," Ashish Chitravanshi, VP - operations, Snapdeal told The Economic Times. 
 
 
Hyperlocal fulfillment and last-mile delivery, including partnerships with national logistics players, are making the festive season busy for small, regional players. 
 
"Ahead of the Big Billion day sale at Flipkart, we are working on a contractual agreement to fulfill last-mile delivery of appliances from the fulfillment centre in the city," said Srinivas Madhavam, founder and CEO of VDeliver, a two-year-old logistics player with operations in Hyderabad and Chennai. 
 
Amazon’s service-partner programme for last-mile delivery, among other resources, uses local distribution networks to reach remote villages. Direct delivery, though, forms only a small part of the business for ecommerce firms. 
 
"Close to 4% of our orders are fulfilled directly by merchants to customers. This is especially relevant in case of products which require installation services, such as appliances," said Radhika Aggarwal, chief marketing officer at ShopClues. 
 
The model is expected to grow, though currently the players are focused on getting the logistics right for this festive season. In order to meincreased demand for delivery personnel, regional players have been building capacity through part-time and temporary staffing.

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