An e-store creator gets $10.8 million after a five-fold increase in users in last eight months

• Bikayi enables SMBs to scale up their digital operations and reach out to a wider set of audience base.
• Bikayi claims that its merchant base has grown five-times over the last eight months, and has a user base of 4 million.
• The company had raised $2 million in seed funding led by Y Combinator in August 2020.

Hyderabad-based Bikayi, which helps small businesses set up a digital store, has raised $10.8 million in a Series A round led by Sequoia Capital India. It plans to use the latest Series A funding to accelerate product development, market penetration and talent acquisition.

The company had raised $2 million seed funding led by Y Combinator in August 2020.

Founded in 2019 by Sonakshi Nathani and Ashutosh Singla, Bikayi enables small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) to scale up their digital operations and reach out to a wider set of audience base.

The company offers professional features and tools to help these small businesses grow. These features include a dedicated business coach, catalogue listing, shipping facility, payments and insights on customer behaviour.

Bikayi claims that its merchant base has grown five-times over the last eight months. This has also resulted in a multifold increase in its annual gross merchandise value (GMV). The three-year-old startup claims to have a user base of 4 million.

“Our vision is to empower every small business to win in the emerging online market by providing them with affordable tools, helping them achieve unimaginable goals. We are on a mission to fulfil the aspirations of millions of small businesses that drive our economy,” Bikayi’s co-founder and chief executive (CEO) Nathani said.

She further added that some merchants have made over a million dollars using the Bikayi e-store in the span of a year.

Meanwhile, Sequoia Capital India’s vice president Shraeyansh Thakur emphasised that there are over 75 million SMBs in India and this accounts for 30% of the country’s gross domestic product (GDP). Rapid digitisation of SMBs and deepening e-commerce ecosystem are huge trends, which Bikayi is catering to, Thakur added.

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