Meesho is a Bangalore-based startup that allows people to sell and resell products over social media. It was co-founded by IIT-Delhi graduates Vidit Aatrey and Sanjeev Barnwal, the former of which is the company CEO. And it just secured an investment of $50 million.
Sanjeev Barnwal/Facebook
Meesho secured the additional funding in a Series C round of investments, the third in just the past year. After graduating Y Combinator in 2016, it's previously raised $3.4 million in a Series A in October 2017 and $11.5 million in a Series B in June this year. Over that time, Meesho has also seen its revenue grow a hundred times, Aatrey told TechCrunch in an interview.
Among the new investors are local names like Sequoia India, as well as Chinese and US investors. Though Meesho started off with a wider business model, it now focuses on enabling commerce over WhatsApp, India's most popular messaging app. And with over 200-million monthly active users to draw in, they're doing really well.
Meesho acquires products from suppliers, which is supplies to sellers along with an inventory management platform, and payment and shipping logistics. Sellers can market to whoever they want at whatever price margin they choose, and Meesho earns its revenue by taking a cut from each sale.
According to Meesho's CEO, sales typically happen between friends and family, where there's already established trust. The products can include everything from cosmetics, to clothing, accessories, and more. The sellers however, are handpicked by Meesho. It's unclear if their revenues matter, but those that don't remain active enough are removed from the platform, though they insist that doesn't happen often. Those who perform well, meanwhile, and show a knack for it are given skill training for the job
Right no, Meesho has about 2 million sellers registered, but they hope to reach 20 million by 2020. A good 80 percent of those are women, thanks to the app initially targeting housewives looking for something to do or a way to earn some extra money. Additionally, nearly a third in total are students.
According to his estimates, Aatrey says a seller can earn anywhere between Rs 8,000 to Rs 10,000 in a single month, if using the app full-time. At the same time, sellers save on various expenses like inventory storage, marketing, and more, because they're conducting business over WhatsApp and with known contacts.
Thanks to this new round of funding, Meesho plans to expand further in India. However, they apparently also have plans to begin setting up supply chains in China. Shunwei Capital, one of the new Chinese investors, should come in handy here. In fact, after the next year, Meesho sees itself expanding internationally to other parts of Asia, and even the Middle East.