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

• Shopclues has finally been sold to Singapore-based Qoo10 in an all stock deal.
• The unicorn startup was sold at a valuation ranging between just $70-100 million.
• This year, Shopclues had been at the centre of multiple failed attempts at mergers as it tried to survive.

Indian unicorn e-commerce startup Shopclues has finally found 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 reports, 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 had said.

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 revenue began slowing down. 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 cut down 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 exits too began in the company. It also fired 50 employees across verticals.

It also lost a legal fight with L’oreal, which had accused 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 acquire 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.