An exciting e-commerce startup announced funding of USD 38 million
E-commerce has become the new black of the world. People are moving towards e-commerce for the smallest of things.
Let us talk about e-commerce. What is e-commerce? E-commerce which is also called electronic commerce is defined as the process of buying and selling goods and services online. Many different services can be availed through e-commerce. Some of them are- electronic fund transfer, supply chain management, electronic data interchange, inventory management systems, supply chain systems, and many others.
The different types of e-commerce are- Business to business (B2B), Business to Consumer (B2C), Consumer to consumer (C2C), Consumer to Business (C2B), Business to Administration (B2A), Consumer to Administration (C2A), and mobile e-commerce. Some of the famous e-commerce marketplaces are- Amazon, eBay, Walmart, Alibaba, Overstock, and many others.
Coming to the history of e-commerce, it goes back to the 1960s when EDI was started to being used in businesses. The number of individual users and businesses sharing electronic documents with each other started to grow in the 1980s, and then in the 1990s, the rise of Amazon and eBay bought a big revolution in the industry of e-commerce.
Talking about the global e-commerce industry, China is at the top in retail e-commerce sales. 4.1% of the e-commerce sales of the total FMCG sales of the world belong to the US. Amazon is the leading online marketplace when seen from the perspective of the number of monthly visits. In the year 2020, more than two billion people bought goods and services online. During the COVID 19 lockdown, retail e-commerce sales around the world grew more than 25%.
Talking about the Indian e-commerce industry, the value of the industry in the year 2020 was USD 46.2 billion, and it is expected to grow and increase to USD 111.40 billion by the year 2025. The Government of India has started the “Digital India” program, in which the number of internet connections in our country has increased to 784.59 million, as of July 2021. This increase in number is very important for the Indian e-commerce industry.
Let us now talk about the funding of the e-commerce startup that has taken place recently.
Announcement of funding of an e-commerce platform
The startup, ShopKirana, has raised funds worth USD 38 million, as announced on January 26, 2022. This round of funding that has taken place is the Series C round of funding and was led by Oman India, Info Edge, and Sixth Sense Ventures. The other investors who took part in this round of funding were Gunosy Capital, Ajanta LLP, Trifecta, Incubate Fund, Akatsuki, and many others.
![Startup Bharat] Here's how this Indore-based B2B ecommerce startup made Rs 1 Cr in a day from just one city](https://images.yourstory.com/cs/2/a9efa9c0-2dd9-11e9-adc5-2d913c55075e/shopkirana1562232197204.png)
Talking about how much each investor has invested, it is as follows-
Oman India has made an investment of INR 60.8 crore
Info Edge has made an investment of INR 53.47 crore
Sixth Sense has made an investment of INR 53.37 crore
The remaining amount of funding has been made bY Ajanta LLP, 9Unicorns, NISA Family Trust, IF India, VSS Investco, and many individuals like Kunjal L Patel, Rajiv Ranjan Mishra, and Lashit Sanghvi.
The startup has approved the allotment of 44 equity shares and 42404 Series C preference shares at a price of an issue of INR 47465.3 each in order to raise INR 200.5 crore, which is equivalent to almost USD 27 million. After the receiving of funds, the value of the startup has increased to USD 155 million. When the startup receives the whole amount, the value of the startup will go to USD 165-170 million.
About the e-commerce startup that has announced its funding
The startup, ShopKirana, is a B2B commerce company that has its focus on technology and supply chain innovation and has its headquarters in Indore, Madhya Pradesh. The “execution of ideas” journey of the startup started in the year 2015. The aim of the startup is to give power to the retailers to the competitive by providing technology, operational expertise, and scale advantage. The idea of the startup is to be in partnership with millions of retailers by becoming part of their supply chain and making it the biggest and quickest go-to-market channel for products and services. The startup works directly with brands to push them, by giving them a boost on the demand side and reach the masses with transparency and deep market intelligence.
The startup is a B2B platform that was started with a vision to empower millions of retailers which connects more than 1.2 billion of the population of our country in terms of trade. Even after so much time of the usage of internet in India, small mom pop stores hold more than 90% of all Indian retail trade and are the backbone of our economy. The startup connects directly with brands with the help of technology and supply chain innovation to source products within 48 hours. The startup is responsible for starting the very first FMCG/grocery B2B multi-brand platform for unorganized Kirana stores in India.
The mission of the startup is as follows-
To equip and integrate Indian retailers with the latest and updated technology
Improve the margins, productivity, and sales of the customers of the startup
Increasing competitiveness of customers by providing them with optimization in inventory, space, aesthetics
Providing affordable value-added services like logistics, banking, loan, IT, ordering
To be a retailer centric organization.
The values of the startup are as follows-
Mission Obsession- The startup is obsessed with the mission of empowering retailers with the latest technologies, tools, knowledge, and innovation.
Simplify- The startup believes in making every stakeholder’s life easy and productive by creating the simplest tools, systems, and processes
The conviction with Humbleness- The startup believes in talking a tough business decision and putting the thoughts across but it makes sure to be polite while doing it
Execution and growth-focused- The startup believes in actions vs discussion. It is a growth-oriented organization
Integrity- The startup believes in doing its best in the most honest way even when no one is watching
Respect- The startup believes in earning and giving respect to behavior and business performance. The aim of the startup is to be the most respected organization among stakeholders.
The startup guarantees in capturing 10% of the market share within 3 months of launch. The largest single order that the startup has received is 7.1 lakhs. The startup operates in second-tier cities which hold 30% of the Indian population. The startup is operational in 30 cities, with 1000000 stores, has made sales of more than 2 billion, and has a customer reach of 50 million.
The competition of the startup is Jumbotail, Max Wholesale, KiranaKart, Gramfacrory, and Udaan.
The startup is offering something very different and innovative. We wish the startup a piece of good luck and hope it has a shining and successful future ahead.
