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<keyword id="19913963" type="General" weightage="100" keywordseo="Indian-startups" source="keywords">Indian startups</keyword> have experienced a remarkable surge in funding during the first eight months of 2024, with a significant increase of 53.1% compared to the same period in 2023, according to a report by <keyword id="19910824" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="GlobalData" source="keywords" meta.keywordsubtype="org" meta.entityname="GlobalData" meta.hostid="261" meta.entityid="GlobalData">GlobalData</keyword>. From January to August 2024, Indian startups secured $7.5 billion in <keyword id="19913965" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="venture-capital" source="keywords">venture capital</keyword> funding, a sharp rise from the $4.9 billion raised during the same timeframe in the previous year. The report highlighted that not only did the total funding amount grow, but the average deal size also increased. A total of 780 venture capital deals were completed between January and August 2024, compared to 742 deals in the same period in 2023. These deals contributed to the $7.5 billion raised this year, marking a 5.1% rise in deal volume alongside the impressive 53.1% growth in funding value. GlobalData's report emphasised India's growing prominence in the Asia-Pacific region as a major hub for venture capital investments, ranking second only to China. Globally, India secured a spot among the top five countries in terms of both the number of venture capital deals and the total funding value. "The marked increase in venture funding value highlights the burgeoning investor confidence in India's <keyword id="19930407" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="startup-ecosystem" source="keywords">startup ecosystem</keyword>,” explains Aurojyoti Bose, lead analyst at GlobalData. "India's performance signals a promising landscape in the <keyword id="20948843" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="VC-funding" source="keywords">VC funding</keyword> market". From a global perspective, India accounted for 7.3% of the total venture capital deals between January and August 2024, with a 4.6% share of the total funding value. Additionally, India saw a notable increase in high-value VC deals, with several investments exceeding $100 million. Some of the standout funding rounds this year included <keyword id="12437554" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="zepto" source="Orion">Zepto</keyword>, which raised $665 million and $340 million in two separate rounds, Meesho's $300 million round, <keyword id="20201450" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="pharmeasy" source="keywords">PharmEasy</keyword> securing $216 million, OYO raising $173.5 million, and Radiance receiving $150 million. These impressive funding rounds underscore the continued momentum and strength of India’s startup ecosystem in 2024, setting the stage for further growth and innovation in the coming years. (With inputs from ANI)

Indian startup finance ecosystem still going strong, report shows over 50% growth in VC funding over last year

<ul><li>Investors looking to participate in India’s ecommerce story will need to keep in mind that the valuation will continue to be premium even for those startups that are turning in a small profit.</li><li>For better monetisation, <keyword id="3480589" type="General" weightage="100" keywordseo="meesho" source="Orion">Meesho</keyword> is also entering categories where brands tend to do well. It currently offers brands like Decathlon, Marico and Nivea on its platform.</li><li>It is also exploring a low-cost grocery model in some smaller cities, which it plans to scale if unit economics justify the investments. </li></ul> Meesho, a horizontal ecommerce player that caters to unorganised sellers, has its task cut out before its public listing 12-18 months down the line. The marketplace will not repeat the mistakes some of its new age peers made while tapping public markets. The marketplace may be the first horizontal ecommerce platform to turn profitable, but it is just the beginning of an arduous journey, given that many investors have burnt their fingers by investing in IPOs of new age companies. Share prices have not kept up with the hype that surrounded these companies, which suggests that investors will not chase such pricey companies no matter how fast they are growing. So how different will Meesho be from the other new age tech platforms that tapped public markets? In conversation with Business Insider, Meesho’s chief financial officer Dhiresh Bansal said they have reflected on the experiences of investors who participated in IPOs in 2021 and 2022. The key takeaway is that valuations were high because there was a lot of free money floating around. He says: “But public market investors are focused on profitable growth. Our point of view is that we want to make sure we run a decent track record of profitable growth if we aspire to get listed. We are targeting to grow revenues by 40% and accelerate it a little more by putting investments back, but we will continue to be profitable.” Clearly, the new mantra for startups today is to be profitable but the size and scale of the profit pool will not impress if compared to the larger companies. Investors looking to participate in India’s ecommerce story will need to keep in mind that the valuation will continue to be premium even for those startups that are turning in a small profit. Call it a scarcity premium, if you will. Explains Bansal: “The investment phase of the company in the new age world is slightly longer but they generate very large pools of cash over a period of time. This is true for unprofitable or small profit companies.” Bansal cites examples of some companies in the US that had a small profit pool to report when they got listed a decade ago. But now these companies churn out large amounts in profits. Therefore, these new age companies cannot be compared to traditional companies. Bansal says that even as fixed costs remain the same over a period of time, on a higher base these companies tend to generate a lot more in profits. Currently, Meesho has 140 mn users who visit the app every month and 40 mn, who open the app everyday. With a revenue growth target of 40% year-on-year, Meesho believes it can earn more without fixed costs going up. In addition to controlling costs and boosting operational efficiency, Meesho is also tweaking its categories and model to earn more in some categories. Even though it continues to largely be a platform for unorganised/small sellers from across India, you can find some brands too as the platform provides a differentiated experience to branded players too. Says Bansal, “Our business is largely unbranded, but we have introduced brands in some categories. We have brands like Decathlon, Marico, Nivea and other D2C brands in the marketplace other than brands in the beauty and personal care category.” Monetisation in these categories is much better than the unbranded segments. The cashburn may have slowed and Meesho’s business may be cashflow positive, but a public listing will not just look at raising fresh capital. The issue will be a mix of fresh issue of shares and offer for sale by existing shareholders. Explains Bansal: “We don’t need fresh capital for growth as we have almost $400 mn in the bank. People will decide whether they want to exit or remain on for a longer period— but It will be a mix of primary and secondary offering at the IPO but it will be largely towards secondary.” This suggests that existing investors will look at a partial exit whenever Meesho hits the public market. The platform is also experimenting with other categories as it looks to diversify from its existing mainstay – apparel, beauty and kitchenware. Meesho wants to sell consumers everything but smartphones, electronics and groceries. Adds Bansal: “We have been experimenting with groceries and beyond the convenience model that works in metro and Tier 1 cities but there is a low priced model of groceries that can work in Tier1 and Tier 2 cities. We are running pilots and once we are sure about the unit economics we will scale the business.”

Key facts to know before Meesho’s IPO hits the market

<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="3658" type="General" weightage="50" keywordseo="india" source="Orion">India</keyword>'s first social commerce platform has turned 1.23 lakh small business owners into lakhpatis. </li><li><keyword id="3480589" type="General" weightage="100" keywordseo="meesho" source="Orion">Meesho</keyword> has overtaken <keyword id="18635" type="General" weightage="50" keywordseo="amazon" source="Orion">Amazon</keyword> and <keyword id="6354742" type="General" weightage="50" keywordseo="flipkart" source="Orion">Flipkart</keyword> in terms of user penetration in tier 2 to tier 4 cities of India. </li><li>Compressed app size, explainer videos on doing business, monthly visits to households of small businessmen is how Meesho is capturing India’s rural heartland. </li></ul>At 13 years of age, <keyword id="15066970" type="General" weightage="50" keywordseo="divyanjali-mishra" source="Orion">Divyanjali Mishra</keyword> is a year short of the legal age to work in India but the entrepreneurial bug bit this teen after she saw her brother-in-law become successful online. She too followed the same path to make and sell t-shirts, wallets and belts on Meesho – an enterprise that made her a <keyword id="23267" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="crorepati" source="Orion">crorepati</keyword> before she turned 18. Her businesses HK Traders and Parthasarathi Enterprises have an annual turnover of ₹24 crore, processing 3,000-4,000 orders per day that she receives from Meesho. Her business now employs over 30 women – all under the age of 23 and coming from economically weaker backgrounds. <div type="image" title="Divyanjali Mishra" msid="94399483" hostid="261" sizebytes="34420"></div> Light and fast Social commerce app Meesho has given wings to many such young, restless, ambitious and talented entrepreneurs across the country – at least 8,000 sellers on Meesho have turned crorepatis since January 2021. As many as 1.23 lakh small business owners have turned into lakhpatis on Meesho. With over 127 million users in August 2022 alone, what is driving this unicorn's customer and seller growth? One trait that’s common between Meesho and its sellers is speed. "Our vision is to democratise internet e-commerce. When the cost of trying out a business online is massively reduced and onboarding happens within 12 hours, more sellers come onboard," said <keyword id="1893518" type="General" weightage="50" keywordseo="megha-agarwal" source="Orion">Megha Agarwal</keyword>, CXO, user growth at Meesho, in an interview with Business Insider India. It also has features unique to small businesses and new enterprises – like the 7-day payment feature. When these sellers are paid faster, they can re-invest faster and hence chase growth. It also helps cover some risks with the ‘Zero penalty’ feature, where sellers are not penalised for self or auto cancellation of orders, Meesho said. Meesho's app is also the lightest e-commerce app in India at 13.6 MB. Flipkart’s app takes up 18 MB of space while Amazon requires 59 MB. "Our customers are mostly from tier 2, tier 3 and tier 4 cities of India. We are aware that customers don't always have smartphones with high data storage. Thus we made our app very light. To make the process of onboarding easier, we are now providing the app in nine vernacular languages," said Agarwal. Meesho, which is backed by Facebook and SoftBank, currently has 360 million downloads – 175 million of these in the last year alone. How does Meesho churn out entrepreneurs from rural India? The social e-commerce team at Meesho conducts monthly travel sessions with the team to the hometowns of their businessmen and businesswomen. It also provides monetary initial boost to sellers who are coming onboard for the first time. “Additionally, we provide free ad credits worth ₹1,200 to all new suppliers who create 7 live catalogues milestones within the first two weeks of their journey,” said Meesho. To promote ease of doing business, the unicorn has created two activation teams dedicated to understanding how to make it easy for sellers who are uneducated. "To improve comprehension and reduce friction, we have created two activation teams from both the seller and user side. Over 20 plus videos exist to educate about sales online. Even the stories we pick to celebrate are meant to be encouraging for small business owners, making us friendly and approachable, " said Agarwal. Over 35% of the seller base from tier 4 regions The social e-commerce app is trying to reach the rural heartland of India. Over 35% of the Meesho seller base hailed from tier 4 regions. In June 2022 alone, there were 23,000 seller registrations – the highest ever from tier 4 cities. Mandi in Himachal Pradesh; Muzaffarnagar and Unnao in Uttar Pradesh; Buhana, Paota, and Kaman in Rajasthan are popular tier 4 business spots for Meesho. Nearly 41% of all Meesho sellers hail from tier 2+ regions such as Hisar, Panipat and Tiruppur, among others. According to a Bernstein report 2022, the sweet spot for e-commerce growth in India is from tier 2 and tier 3 cities. Meesho is outperforming Amazon and Flipkart when it comes to these cities, it reported. In spite of having 700,000 sellers on its platform, Amazon is yet to gain ground in a very important category in India — tier 2 and tier 3 markets. One of India's fastest e-commerce companies, Meesho is looking forward to expanding its portfolio to 100 million sellers with the upcoming festivities. The <keyword id="15066971" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="meesho-blockbuster-sale" source="Orion">Meesho blockbuster sale</keyword> beginning from 23rd September will offer products at prices that are 15% lower than that offered by the big e-commerce platforms, claims the company. SEE ALSO: <a target="_blank" class="c-link c-message_attachment__title_link" href="https://www.businessinsider.in/business/startups/news/doodlage-and-ecokaari-startups-are-converting-waste-into-bags-and-clothes/articleshow/94388327.cms">Fashion forward: These startups are converting waste into bags and clothes</a> <a target="_blank" class="c-link c-message_attachment__title_link" href="https://www.businessinsider.in/india/news/most-indians-to-spend-more-than-10000-on-shopping-in-the-upcoming-festive-season-says-report/articleshow/94389278.cms">Most Indians to spend more than ₹10,000 on shopping in the upcoming festive season, says report</a> <a target="_blank" class="c-link c-message_attachment__title_link" href="https://www.businessinsider.in/business/news/whatsapp-pay-india-head-mahatme-quits-likely-to-return-to-amazon-pay/articleshow/94378345.cms">WhatsApp Pay India head Mahatme quits, likely to return to Amazon Pay</a>

Online e-commerce player Meesho is the new crorepati factory

Homegrown social commerce platform <keyword id="3480589" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="meesho" source="Orion">Meesho</keyword> on Monday announced a first-of-its-kind Boundaryless Workplace Model. Through this model, the firm is giving its employees the power to choose to work from home, office or any location of their choice. With a focus on seamless employee experience, Meesho will enable its workforce with real-time and virtual collaboration tools. "Driven by our mantra to build a people-centric workplace, Meesho has always ensured employees are at the core of everything we do. We have been championing many industry-first initiatives that have redefined conventional workplace norms and this new policy is a step in that direction," Ashish Kumar Singh, Chief Human Resources Officer, Meesho said. Providing opportunities for teams to even meet and collaborate in-person, the company is introducing initiatives like trips to attend quarterly summits and an annual workation in locations like Goa. To support working parents, Meesho will sponsor day care facilities for employees with children below 6 years of age. This can also be availed during official travels to Meesho's head office in Bangalore. According to a recent Sensor Tower report, the homegrown social commerce platform also became the only Indian company and e-commerce platform to feature among the top 10 most downloaded non-gaming apps across the world in October 2021. With new additions such as sports and fitness, pet supplies, automotive accessories among others, Meesho has now grown its roster to over 700 product categories. SEE ALSO <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/business/startups/news/future-groups-kishore-biyani-mohandas-pai-and-68-others-invest-in-former-twitter-india-heads-latest-startup/articleshow/89403045.cms" data-type="tilCustomLink">Future Group’s Kishore Biyani, Mohandas Pai and 68 others invest in former Twitter India head’s latest startup</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/stock-market/news/macquarie-slashes-paytms-target-price-to-700-goldman-sachs-upgrades-it/articleshow/89401105.cms" data-type="tilCustomLink">Macquarie slashes Paytm’s target price to ₹700, Goldman Sachs upgrades it</a> <a class="tout-title-link" href="https://www.businessinsider.in/stock-market/news/tata-steels-stock-on-a-gaining-spree-led-by-doubling-profits-huge-debt-reduction-and-hopes-from-the-union-budget/articleshow/89398818.cms">Tata Steel is on a gaining spree. Thanks to doubling profits, huge debt reduction, and hopes from the union budget</a>

Meesho allows employees to permanently work from anywhere

<ul><li><keyword id="3658" type="General" weightage="80" keywordseo="india" source="Orion">India</keyword>’s ecommerce market is expected to reach $130 billion by 2025. </li><li>Social ecommerce firms in India like Meesho are performing better than traditional ecommerce firms. </li><li>The world’s biggest ecommerce company is struggling to gain a foothold in India’s Tier 2 and 3 cities due to regulatory setbacks.</li></ul><keyword id="18635" type="General" weightage="100" keywordseo="amazon" source="Orion">Amazon</keyword> marked a spectacular entry into India in 2013 and not just because <keyword id="191583" type="General" weightage="50" keywordseo="jeff-bezos" source="Orion">Jeff Bezos</keyword> sat atop a colourful truck or it invested $7 billion into the market. India is one of the biggest emerging ecommerce markets globally, estimated to reach $130 billion by 2025. Almost ten years later, its success is being questioned by a wealth management firm, Bernstein, in its latest report. Amazon is now the second largest player behind Flipkart with a gross merchandise value of $18-20 billion and has over 170 million products. But it’s yet to turn profitable in a market where the average order value is below $10 (approx. ₹800). “Besides growth-related investments, profitability has also been impacted by a higher mix of low margin product categories (e.g., smartphones with sub 5% net margins). Amazon has struggled to scale volumes in higher margin categories such as fashion and beauty and personal care,” said the Bernstein report. Fashion has seen the highest growth in the last few years, and so has grocery. But the latter is led by quick commerce players like Dunzo, Zepto and <keyword id="12724311" type="General" weightage="50" keywordseo="blinkit" source="Orion">Blinkit</keyword>. Amazon and Flipkart are market leaders in mobiles and consumer electronics. But the share of this segment in the ecommerce market is declining. Indian regulations give <keyword id="10926" type="General" weightage="50" keywordseo="reliance" source="Orion">Reliance</keyword> an edge over Amazon In spite of having 700,000 sellers on its platform, Amazon is yet to gain ground in a very important category in India — tier 2 and tier 3 markets. As per the report, these markets account for around 50% of all e-commerce sales, and they’re growing. “Reliance leads in India with a strong 1P business with over 15,000 store retail footprints. Flipkart is the frontrunner in the apparel category and social ecommerce firm Meesho is winning in tier 2/3 cities where Amazon struggles to perform,” it said. 1P business is where retailers have an online presence like Reliance with a wide brick and mortar footprint. Amazon however is a 3P player who works with sellers. The regulations in India are skewed towards the former, and tougher for MNCs. “Regulations don't allow for an inventory-led 1P model for a foreign entity like Amazon. The company has made investments into local retailers like <keyword id="64373" type="General" weightage="50" keywordseo="shoppers-stop" source="Orion">Shoppers Stop</keyword> (fashion), More (grocery), and a rumoured stake in <keyword id="1560087" type="General" weightage="50" keywordseo="ecom-express" source="Orion">Ecom Express</keyword> (logistics) but integration has been limited as the regulations don't allow for full control,” the report said. At the same time, its key competitor Reliance scaled up its ecommerce operations to around 19% of core retail sales, thanks to its 15,000 stores and ability to manage an inventory-led model. “Amazon's management attrition has also increased recently, potentially signaling difficulties achieving desired scale,” the report said. Amazon’s worldwide consumer CEO Dave Clark left the company after 23 years in 2022. Here’s where ecommerce growth is at The sweet spot for ecommerce growth in India is Tier 2+, the report says, which is a market that’s seeking products tailored to their needs. <keyword id="3030142" type="General" weightage="50" keywordseo="myglamm" source="Orion">MyGlamm</keyword>, <keyword id="1932100" type="General" weightage="50" keywordseo="bewakoof" source="Orion">Bewakoof</keyword> and Sleepy Owl are able to achieve this with a large chunk of their business coming from these towns. However, due to regulations, Amazon cannot make headway here too. The inability to operate a 1P model has limited the availability of private labels versus the competition, which further pressures margins, the report says. “Despite the importance of the market, we estimate that it contributes less than 5% to Amazon's overall value. At Amazon's current valuation, we see the India business as a call option for Amazon investors, as long as the company is disciplined around capital allocation,” says Bernstein. SEE ALSO: <a target="_blank" class="c-link c-message_attachment__title_link" href="https://www.businessinsider.in/tech/mobile/news/upcoming-new-smartphones-launching-in-india-in-september-2022/slidelist/93945270.cms">Upcoming smartphones launching in India in September 2022</a> <a target="_blank" class="c-link c-message_attachment__title_link" href="https://www.businessinsider.in/business/startups/news/cash-rich-family-offices-of-small-towns-are-buying-into-the-india-startup-story/articleshow/93944024.cms">Cash-rich family offices of small towns are buying into the India startup story</a> <a target="_blank" class="c-link c-message_attachment__title_link" href="https://www.businessinsider.in/thelife/personalities/news/meet-laxman-narsimhan-the-pune-boy-wholl-soon-be-the-ceo-of-starbucks/slidelist/93941369.cms">Meet Laxman Narsimhan, the Pune boy who’ll soon be the CEO of Starbucks</a>

Amazon is struggling in India unlike Reliance, Meesho says wealth management firm Bernstein

<ul><li>Home-grown platform Meesho is the latest start-up to join the unicorn club after raising $300 million from Softbank Vision Fund 2.</li><li>Founded in 2015, Meesho launched its first TVC in 2020 that aimed to celebrate financial independence of Indian women. It is now planning to go bullish on marketing with new campaigns and collaborations to expand its reseller user base.</li><li>Vidit Aatrey, Founder and CEO, Meesho walks us through the company’s journey from scratch, marketing goals for the year and shares his vision.</li></ul>It was in 2015 that Vidit Aatrey, Founder and CEO of Meesho decided to quit InMobi and start his own business. He and his partner Sanjeev Barnwal, Founder and CTO of Meesho came up with an idea to build a platform to help micro and small businesses shift online and leverage the power of digital technologies. So, as social commerce was struggling to make inroads in India, Meesho led the way and revolutionized the industry. “Social commerce was already a popular concept at that time but the challenges such as limited access to supply, lack of logistics/ payment options, customer friendly policies etc, were also on the rise,” shared Aatrey. Months went into experimenting with the idea, researching the market and getting the logistics right. They juggled between ideas until they perfected the core business proposition. Cut to today, Meesho has just raised $300 million in a new round of funding led by SoftBank Vision Fund 2 on April 02. The startup has already joined the unicorn club. As per media reports, the new Series E round gives the five-year-old Bangalore-based company a valuation of $2.1 billion, up from about $600 million-$700 million in the 2019 Series D investment. The social commerce platform claims to have over 13 million entrepreneurs, a majority of whom are women. It has helped them start their own online businesses with zero investment, bringing the benefits of e-commerce to over 45 million customers across the country. Sharing why Aatrey started Meesho, he said, “‘Meesho’ stands for ‘meri shop’ or apni dukaan. Almost 9 out of every 10 individuals in India have a dream of starting his/her small business. Given the increasing number of self-employed, small business owners, gig workers in India it is no surprise that Indians have an enterprising mind. However, starting a business requires a lot of capital. India is not such a rich country. Most people do not have access to capital. These people who never had the opportunity to start a store came onto our platform and became entrepreneurs for the first time. One can come here, start his/her shop on WhatsApp, access anything from our supplier marketplace, and as per consumer orders, purchase is made from the marketplace.” Meesho primarily connects sellers with customers through social media platforms such as WhatsApp, Instagram and Facebook. It supervises logistics, online payment and provides real-time updates. Till date, the company has delivered orders from 100K+ registered suppliers to over 26,000 pin codes in more than 4,800 cities, helping generate over Rs 500 crore in income for entrepreneurs and serving customers in more than 4,500 Tier 2+ cities -- bringing e-commerce to Bharat. As per a recent report by Deloitte, India’s e-commerce is expected to grow from $24 billion in 2017 to $84 billion in 2021. Considering that India has about 60 million micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) currently, Meesho is just getting started. Aatrey said, “We have ~9M women entrepreneurs and India is roughly going to have more than 250M women who will be online by 2025. Given this understanding, we are just scratching the surfaces of enabling women to start their own business. With the growth that we have seen over the last year, we want to bring our value proposition to many aspiring women, and we see a lot of value in further communicating our value proposition. That said, we will consistently be communicating how Meesho can empower and enable women entrepreneurs in starting their home businesses.” According to Aatrey, the social reselling market in India is estimated to be $6-7 billion (GMV) in size as of 2020. By 2025, the social commerce is expected to be ~$70B and total ecommerce to be $200 Bn as the number of online shoppers, especially from tier II cities and beyond, continues to rise. After the pandemic, Meesho has also seen an increased adoption rate in Bharat. “Overall, more than 70% of our orders come from tier II+ towns. We have seen very good adoption in tier II+ towns during the pandemic: we have served 2000+ new tier 2+ towns since June and our order share from these towns has also increased from 67% earlier to 72% between July and December 2020,” said he. Aatrey believes that the future of online shopping is social commerce and more and more retail outlets have started exploring this medium after the pandemic. “I believe evolving technology is a wakeup call for everyone in business. It is imperative for all to realize the huge potential that digital has and ways to leverage it. The lockdown period came as a lesson for many of us. Many retailers in India resorted to selling products over WhatsApp and that shows how the retail market is also changing and moving towards digital. In fact, according to a retail website, today 85% of sellers using social commerce are small, offline retailers giving sharp competition to large organized sellers on e-commerce platforms. As per Bain Analysis, India has the highest number of internet users (572 million) globally, with substantial room for growth. So, the retail market has enough potential to leverage social commerce and bloom,” elaborated Aatrey. <cmsannotation type="cmsannotation" annotationid="Carving a niche beyond social commerce" text="Carving a niche beyond social commerce">Carving a niche beyond social commerce</cmsannotation> Since a majority of its sellers and buyers are women, Meesho’s communication also centers around women empowerment. Its mission is to help women achieve financial independence. Its first TVC, conceptualised by DDB Mudra, focused on an unstated need of a woman, which is to claim what she rightfully deserves – her own identity. The film celebrated the unstoppable spirit of women who overcome all social and economic barriers with the line that captures the sentiment of 'Not just a homemaker, a Meesho Entrepreneur.' <div type="Youtube" id="Y0nSzxtiShA" title="Many Names, One Identity #MyStoreMyStory" thumbUrl="https://i.ytimg.com/vi/Y0nSzxtiShA/mqdefault.jpg"></div> Telling us more about the company's marketing proposition, Aatrey said, “We have more than 9 million resellers on our platform spread across 100 cities out of which 80% of them being women from smaller towns and cities. Social and cultural factors for years have kept this section of the society away from employment. Our strategy has always been to empower more and more people to fulfil their dream of becoming an entrepreneur, especially women, who due to social obligations sacrifice their dreams and fall behind in terms of financial independence. We wish to give them all a sense of self and accomplishment through our platform. Social media is our backbone and these entrepreneurs, our pillars of strength.” Meesho is also fighting against e-commerce giants like Amazon and Flipkart, who are ploughing billions of dollars and have been around for a while. Meesho’s rivals have on-boarded Bollywood celebrities and have a huge media presence. “In the era of Amazon and Flipkart, we at Meesho are trying to build trust through social commerce. Our strategy has always been to empower more and more people to fulfil their dream. Our communication will remain around our USP- to help build entrepreneurs with zero capital. We will also find more channels this year to penetrate our value proposition further,” said Aatrey. Vision After the recent funding round, Meesho is aiming to build a single ecosystem that will enable all small businesses to grow faster. “With the new round of funding, we are now focused on expanding our vision — from helping aspiring women entrepreneurs to creating Meesho as a single ecosystem that will enable all small businesses in India to succeed online. In the last one year, we have seen tremendous growth across small businesses and entrepreneurs seeking to move their businesses online. And with our new vision we will enable 100 million small businesses to start, succeed and lead their operations online with Meesho as their partner in their journey,” said Aatrey. The introduction of smartphones and penetration of the internet and WhatsApp in particular has made the market size for social commerce grow larger, which is estimated to reach $70B USD in 2025. Meesho aims to leverage this demand and go bullish on marketing with new campaigns and collaborations with different partners to accelerate its user base of resellers on the platform. “2021 has come with a new set of possibilities, opportunities, and challenges to tackle. We, at Meesho, are committed to our goal of letting anyone start a digital business with zero capital. Major focus area would be to enable increased adoption of Meesho’s platform across multiple categories which would be possible only when we are able to structurally reduce our prices for our customers. We also plan to leverage the digital ecosystem and unravel more benefits that it can offer for the betterment of our entrepreneurs and Meeho’s growth. We aim at surpassing all our achievements and recognitions from previous years and reach newer milestones. We are also looking at transforming the Meesho app for better experience for our entrepreneurs. With new built in features, we hope to enhance the look and feel of the app. ‘Meeshoites’ are looking at the year with great hope, plans and execution methods,” shared Aatrey.

Meesho's marketing strategy has been to empower women who lack financial independence, says CEO Vidit Aatrey

<ul><li><keyword id="5890319" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="Social-E-commerce">Social e-commerce</keyword> startup <keyword id="3480589" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Meesho">Meesho</keyword> has raised $125 million from Naspers. </li><li>The startup was in the news for being Facebook’s first direct investment in India. </li><li>Meesho has over 2 million ‘social sellers’ across 700 towns in India.</li></ul>Meesho, the online marketplace raised $125 million funding led by Naspers. The round also saw participation from Facebook and existing investors SAIF, Sequoia, Shunwei Capital, RPS and Venture Highway and former Vodafone Group CEO Arun Sarin. Meesho is a marketplace for resellers, which connects them with customers via social media channels like WhatsApp and Facebook. “Our social sellers are small retailers, women, students and retired citizens, with 70% being homemakers who have found financial freedom and a business identity without having to step outside their homes,” said Vidit Aatrey, Meesho Co-Founder and CEO. One of the investors of this social e-commerce startup is Facebook. It’s the first time that the global giant picked up equity in an Indian startup. “With this investment in Meesho, we want to fuel a business model that can result in rapid job creation and the rise of a female entrepreneurial class in India," <keyword id="736869" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Facebook-India">Facebook India</keyword> head Ajit Mohan had then said in an <a href="https://www.livemint.com/companies/start-ups/facebook-invests-in-bengaluru-based-meesho-1560427873327.html">interview</a>. Meesho has over two million ‘social sellers’ across 700 towns in India along with a distribution channel of 15,000 suppliers in traditional manufacturing hubs. Its focus is largely on apparel, home, wellness and electronics items. The startup intends to create 20 million entrepreneurs by 2020. With the latest investment, Meesho wants to grow its community of women entrepreneurs and also reach out to remote customers of India. The startup was also a part of the global accelerator programme Y-Combinator. It had earlier raised a funding of $65 million from Sequoia India, DST Partners and Shunwei Capital.

Facebook-backed Indian startup Meesho raises $125 million from Naspers

<ul><li>Global <keyword id="6354632" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="social-media">social media</keyword> giant <keyword id="6354576" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="facebook">Facebook</keyword> invested an undisclosed amount in Indian startup Meesho. </li><li>Meesho is a marketplace for resellers and connects them with customers via social media channels.</li><li>This is the first time Facebook has directly picked up equity in an Indian startup. </li></ul>Facebook <a href="https://techcrunch.com/2019/06/13/facebook-meesho-first-indian-startup-investment/">invested</a> an undisclosed amount in an Indian <keyword id="623994" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="social-commerce">social commerce</keyword> startup Meesho. This is the first time that the global giant picked up equity in an Indian startup. Meesho is a marketplace for resellers, and connects them with customers via social media channels like WhatsApp and Facebook. “With this investment in Meesho, we want to fuel a business model that can result in rapid job creation and the rise of a female entrepreneurial class in India," Facebook India head Ajit Mohan said in an <a href="https://www.livemint.com/companies/start-ups/facebook-invests-in-bengaluru-based-meesho-1560427873327.html">interview.</a> According to reports, Facebook was interested in Meesho because of the startup’s growing reach in Tier II and III cities, and the fact that 80% of resellers on the platform are women. “Over the last 4 years we've grown from our humble beginnings, to a community of more than 15,000 suppliers and 20,00,000 resellers throughout India. We share a common goal with Facebook - to enable the community and help small businesses grow,” Meesho founder Vidit Aatreywrote in a blog post. The startup was also a part of the global accelerator program Y-Combinator. It had earlier raised a funding of $65 million from Sequoia India, DST Partners and Shunwei Capital. Prior to this investment, Facebook had <a href="https://techcrunch.com/2014/01/07/little-eye-labs-acquisition/">acquired </a>Bengaluru-based Little Eye Labs which has a software tool for analyzing the performance of Android apps. “Facebook is an ally for India’s economic growth and social development. We are excited about India and its rapidly rising Internet ecosystem,” Mohan added. See Also: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/facebooks-zuckerberg-says-whatsapp-can-cannibalise-public-social-platforms/articleshow/69058552.cms">Zuckerberg claims that WhatsApp has the power to 'cannibalise' public social platforms</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/facebook-pay-for-user-data-on-study-from-facebook-the-research-app/articleshow/69756443.cms">Facebook will now pay you if you give access to your phone’s data</a>

Facebook invests in Meesho showing that it will enter online e-commerce sooner than later

<ul><li>Amid all the uncertainties revolving around central banks fighting elevated inflation by rising interest rates and recession fears, experts see demand for gold remaining intact.</li><li>A report by the World Gold Council (WGC) says that the global economy is at an inflection point after being hit by various shocks over the past year.</li><li>According to the report, a mild recession and weaker earnings have historically been gold-positive.</li><li>A further weakening of the dollar as inflation recedes could provide support for gold. </li></ul>Economic weakness usually bodes well for gold, as it is seen as a good hedge against risk. Amid all the uncertainties revolving around central banks fighting elevated inflation by interest rate hikes, and recession fears, experts see demand for gold remaining intact in 2023. According to the World Gold Council (WGC), the global economy is at an inflection point after being hit by various shocks over the past year. “The interplay between inflation and central-bank intervention will be key in determining the outlook for 2023 and gold’s performance,” says the WGC. For the near term, ICICIdirect says that, “Further, (gold) prices may rise on expectations that the US Fed will stay less aggressive in raising interest rates from this month. MCX <keyword id="46002" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="gold-prices" source="Orion">Gold prices</keyword> are likely to surpass the hurdle of ₹54,400 to continue its upward trend towards the level of ₹54,600 in the coming trading session.” <div type="image" title="gold-outlook" msid="96407972" hostid="261"></div> Gold does well in recessions According to the report, a mild recession and weaker earnings have historically been gold-positive. A further weakening of the dollar as inflation recedes could provide support for gold. Geopolitical flare-ups should continue to make gold a good risk hedge. Besides, pressure on commodities due to a slowing economy is likely to provide headwinds to gold in H1, says the industry body for the precious metal. In the last few months, equity markets across the world have been volatile on fears of recession as world central banks have been hawkish to manage inflation. “Consensus forecasts now expect global GDP to rise by just 2.1% next year. Excluding the global financial crisis and COVID, this would mark the slowest pace of global growth in four decades and meet the IMF’s previous definition of a global recession – i.e. growth below 2.5%,” said WGC. On December 7, India’s central bank downgraded its GDP growth outlook for FY23 to 6.8% from 7% it had predicted in September this year. This is the second time that the RBI has changed its outlook on how the country’s economy will expand, from 7.2% it had expected during the start of the year. This came in as RBI increased interest rates by 35 basis points in December, which was the fifth rate hike since May in 2022. “In the US, markets expect the Fed to start cutting rates in the second half of 2023. Elsewhere, markets expect policy rates to come down more slowly than in the US, but by 2024 most major central banks are expected to be in easing mode,” said WGC. A mixed set of influences implies a stable but positive performance for gold. “There is an unusually high level of uncertainty surrounding consensus expectations for 2023. For example, central banks tightening more than is necessary could result in a more severe and widespread downturn. Equally, central banks abruptly reversing course – halting or reversing hikes before inflation is controlled – could leave the global economy teetering close to stagflation. Gold has historically responded positively to these environments,” said the WGC report. Analysts say next year assets like gold that are used to hedge against market uncertainties will continue to do better. “Growth equity funds, real estate vehicles and private credit managers have all experienced varying degrees of markdowns on their assets, and more seem likely. On the other hand, other alternative investments such as hedge funds that focus on rates, currencies and cross-asset correlations had a banner year and proved their worth as portfolio diversifiers. In 2023, gold may serve a similar purpose as the dollar and real interest rates find their peaks,” said a report by JP Morgan. SEE ALSO: <a target="_blank" class="c-link c-message_attachment__title_link" href="https://www.businessinsider.in/business/ecommerce/news/prime-time-tv-ott-now-have-competition-from-online-shopping-indians-shop-the-most-after-8-pm-says-meesho/articleshow/96396601.cms">Prime time TV &amp; OTT now have competition from online shopping – Indians shop the most after 8 pm, says Meesho</a> <a target="_blank" class="c-link c-message_attachment__title_link" href="https://www.businessinsider.in/business/telecom/news/reliance-jio-continues-to-lead-the-telecom-industry-as-its-active-subscribers-increase-by-4-9-million/articleshow/96395806.cms">Reliance Jio continues to lead the telecom industry as its active subscribers increase by 4.9 million</a>

Gold set to shine bright in 2023 as world heads towards recession

<ul><li><keyword id="7413619" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="mall91">Mall91</keyword>, Dealshare, CityMall, Bulbul, WMall along with the Facebook-backed <keyword id="3480589" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Meesho">Meesho</keyword>, have raised funds in the past few months. </li><li>Each of these startup is targeting the next 200 million consumers from smaller cities.</li><li>It all started with social media giant <keyword id="6354576" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="facebook">Facebook</keyword> investing an undisclosed amount in Meesho in June.</li></ul>The Indian <keyword id="623994" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="social-commerce">social commerce</keyword> sector seems to be the latest ‘hot sector’ for investors. Many Indian startups – Mall91, Dealshare, CityMall, Bulbul, WMall along with the Facebook-backed Meesho, have raised funds in the last few months. Each of these startup is targeting the next 400 million consumers from smaller cities by leveraging on the expanding reach of social media platforms like Facebook and WhatsApp. With growing data penetration in India, social commerce is only set to grow. "Social commerce is basically a direct correlation to data penetration in the country. Today, everybody in Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities also has an availability of the internet. A long-time back shopping online was restricted to a certain population, today there is an exponential possibility due to the availability of the internet, everybody has access to it from every sector of the society,” said Roma Priya, Founder of Burgeon Law, a boutique law firm. Priya added that given that social commerce has a more one-on-one, viral nature is a great way for a trust deficient demographic to buy again. Funding galore Today, Mall91 has raised $7.5 million through its Series A funding round led by Go-Ventures and participation by Beenext, Kalaari Capital, AngelList India. With the latest funds, Mall91 aims to drive growth and plans to expand to other top 8 local languages of India. The company is also planning to grow its supply chain capabilities domestically and internationally. It all started with social media giant Facebook investing an undisclosed amount in Meesho in June. Meesho is a marketplace for resellers, and connects them with customers via social media channels like WhatsApp and Facebook. “With this investment in Meesho, we want to fuel a business model that can result in rapid job creation and the rise of a female entrepreneurial class in India," Facebook India head Ajit Mohan had then said in an <a href="https://www.livemint.com/companies/start-ups/facebook-invests-in-bengaluru-based-meesho-1560427873327.html">interview.</a> This was followed by Dealshare which raised $11 million from Matrix Partners, Falcon Edge Capital and others. Meanwhile, barely one year old social e-commerce platform CityMall which operates in local languages-- raised an undisclosed amount from Jitendra Gupta of Citrus Pay, Alvin Tse of Xiaomi, Manish Vij and Harish Bahl from Smile Group, Rishab Malik ex-co-founder of Droom, Rajesh Sawhney of GSF and M&amp;S Partners. In May 2019. Bulbul, which is a live social commerce app, raised $5 million in a round that was led by Sequoia. It is also a part of Sequoia’s accelerator programme. See also: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/facebook-invests-in-indian-startup-meesho/articleshow/69782285.cms">Facebook invests in Meesho showing that it will enter online e-commerce sooner than later</a>

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