On Monday, Meesho announced raising $300 million in a new round of funding led by SoftBank Vision Fund 2. With this, the social commerce startup’s valuation rose to $2.1 billion.
Existing partners like Prosus Ventures, Facebook, Shunwei Capital, Venture Highway, and Knollwood Investment also participated. Through this fundraising, Meesho plans to build a “single digital ecosystem” for ten crore small businesses and focus on hiring the best talent across technology, product and other functions.
The latest funding has made Meesho the fourth domestic startup this year to be a part of the unicorn club, comprising private companies with a valuation of $1 billion or more.
“We are 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,” said Vidit Aatrey, co-founder and CEO of Meesho said in a press statement.
He further commented on the fund raid, “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.”
Meesho is a reselling platform catering to the individual businesses owned and run by women entrepreneurs and homepreneurs. It enables them to be financially self-dependent. Meesho claims to be the best money earning app trusted by over one crore re-sellers throughout the country.
The company empowers the entrepreneurs selling various products in different categories like clothes, cosmetics, and household items to connect with their prospective customer through Meesho. The business focuses on acquiring products through a wholesale supplier and selling them to customers after adding a margin.
The new unicorn has now aimed to make e-commerce simplified for small businesses. The company stated their policies and tools will allow even the smallest of the sellers to list and do the business.
In a statement, Munish Varma, Managing Partner at SoftBank Investment Advisers, said, “Globally, SoftBank has always been excited to back founders that provide unique solutions for the local market. By using the power of artificial intelligence and machine learning, Meesho has created a platform for many small business owners to sell to the next cohort of internet users. We look forward to being a part of this journey.”
Meesho has delivered orders from over one crore re-sellers in more than 5000 cities generating over ₹25k in income per month.
Commenting on this funding, Sumer Juneja, Partner at SoftBank Investment Advisers said, “We have been closely tracking Meesho for the last 18 months and have been impressed by its growth, daily engagement metrics, focus on unit economics and ability to create a strong team. We believe Meesho provides an efficient platform for SME suppliers and social re-sellers to onboard the e-commerce revolution in India and help them provide a personalised experience to consumers.”