- Meesho is an Indian startup that provides social and commercial platforms for businesses online.
- Investors like Facebook, Prosus Ventures, Shunwei Capital, Venture Highway, and Knollwood have participated.
- The startup claims to have a network of more than 13 million entrepreneurs, mostly women.
- Meesho is the fourth Indian startup to achieve unicorn status.
Meesho is an Indian-origin social commerce platform. Two IIT Delhi graduates, Vidit Aatrey and Sanjeev Barnwal, founded it in December 2015. It enables small businesses and individuals to start their online stores via social channels such as WhatsApp, Facebook, Instagram, etc. Meesho is headquartered in Bengaluru, India, and was one of the three Indian companies to be selected for Y Combinator in 2016. It was also a part of the first batch of the Google Launchpad – Solve for India program.
In June 2019, Meesho became India’s first startup to receive investment from Facebook. In April 2021, Meesho raised $300M led by Softbank Vision Fund 2 giving it a valuation of $2.1B. Existing investors Facebook Prosus Ventures, Shunwei Capital, Venture Highway, and Knollwood Investment also participated.
Meesho raises a $300 million fundraise with a valuation of $2.1 Billion.
Meesho, an Indian social commerce startup that has the backing of Facebook, has raised $300 million in new funding, bringing its value to $2.1 billion. According to the Economic Times, this new round of funding, led by SoftBank Vision Fund 2, has nearly tripled Meesho’s valuation compared to its 2019 round of fundraising, which had the company at a $700 million valuation following a $125 million funding round.
As per reports, Meesho is the fourth Indian startup to achieve unicorn status — meaning a valuation of $1 billion or above this year. Others that have reached unicorn level in 2021 include insurance tech platform Digit, health tech platform Innovaccer, and online construction material marketplace Infra. market, according to the news outlet.
Meesho to grow more business online and more entrepreneurs too.
Meesho is part of the second wave of e-commerce in the country with cheap data and half a billion smartphones. And social commerce is expected to touch up to $7 billion in gross merchandise value by 2025 as the number of online shoppers, especially from tier II cities and beyond, increases, RedSeer Consulting said in a report. The startup claimed to have more than 13 million entrepreneurs or homepreneurs, the majority of them being women.
The company aims to use the fresh investment to reach 100 million small businesses, which includes individual businesses owned and run by women entrepreneurs and “homepreneurs” in the country and enable them to sell online. A part of the investment will also go in to strengthen the company’s talent pool across verticals — tech, product, and business, among others.
