The app provides an online platform, as well as sourcing, logistics and payments tools, to help social sellers launch, build and promote businesses using WhatsApp and Facebook

Meesho, a social commerce platform that helps students, housewives, and brands build businesses using social media, has raised US$11.5 million in Series B round led by Sequoia India, bringing its total funding raised to date to US$15 million.

Existing investors SAIF Partners, Y Combinator and Venture Highway also participated in the latest round.

Meesho will utilise the new funds to accelerate hiring and product development, while expanding the categories on the platform.

This funding comes almost seven months after the startup secured US$3.4 million in Series A led by SAIF Partners.

Meesho Co-founder Vidit Aatrey said. “We have grown 20x since our Series A last year, and we continue to be the biggest cheerleader for the social reselling model that we have built from scratch over the last two years. With the new investment, we plan to double down on our mission to create 20M entrepreneurs over the next two years by expanding our suite of tools.”

Meesho was founded in 2015 by IIT-Delhi graduates Aatrey and Sanjeev Barnwal. The Meesho app provides an online platform, as well as sourcing, logistics and payments tools, to help social sellers launch, build and promote online businesses using WhatsApp, Facebook and other social media channels. These social sellers are small retailers, housewives, students, retired citizens and many other aspiring entrepreneurs across India.

A typical Meesho social seller, which includes small retailers, housewives, students and even retirees, earns between INR 20,000 and 25,000 (US$300-US$375) per month by selling products across fashion, lifestyle and many other categories.

Also Read: Social commerce goes beyond social; It also requires tweaking user behaviour

To date, Meesho has enabled over 800,000 social sellers in over 500 towns across India to start and grow their businesses with zero capital cost. Together, the small businesses on Meesho’s platform currently reach over four million consumers.

“Social commerce is the future of e-commerce in India. People buy from people they trust, and that’s what Meesho enables. Entrepreneurs, many of them women, use the Meesho platform to recommend, customise and sell to their family and friends,” said Mohit Bhatnagar, Managing Director, Sequoia India.

While social commerce is a fast-growing industry in Southeast Asia, particularly in Indonesia and Thailand, it has not picked up much momentum in India yet. However, things have begun to change in the recent times, with several startups emerging to enable people, mostly women, to resell items on social media. This has helped thousands of Indians households earn extra income from home.

 

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