Social commerce startup Meesho raises USD 570 mn funding at USD 4.9 valuation

Social commerce platform Meesho on Thursday said it has raised USD 570 million (about Rs 4,235.2 crore) in funding, led by Fidelity Management & Research Company and B Capital Group, that has helped the company more than double its valuation to USD 4.9 billion in less than five months. Existing investors – Prosus Ventures, SoftBank Vision Fund 2 and Facebook also participated in this round, a statement said.

Other new investors include Footpath Ventures, Trifecta Capital, Good Capital and others, it added. In April, Meesho had raised USD 300 million (about Rs 2,201.7 crore) in a funding round from SoftBank Vision Fund 2 and others, which had pushed its valuation to USD 2.1 billion. Till date, the company has raised over USD 1 billion.

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Meesho, in a statement, on Thursday said it has recorded 2.5x growth in order volume and added a range of new product categories to its roster including sports and fitness, pet supplies, and automotive accessories in just five months since the last round of funding. The company intends to go deeper into India’s underserved markets, becoming the preferred e-commerce destination for the next billion users in the country, it added.

“With an aim to reach 100 million monthly transacting users by December 2022, Meesho expects to utilise the fresh round of funding to grow its technology and product talent by 2.5x, increase its roster to over 50 million products, and become the platform of choice for customers, entrepreneurs and sellers from all corners of India,” the statement said. The company is also looking to expand its groceries and FMCG offerings with Farmiso (Meesho Grocery), its community group buying business to more than 200 cities, the statement said.

Meesho noted that by making online grocery shopping affordable for first-time users across India’s tier II and beyond markets, the company is enabling them to shop from a wide selection of groceries at ticket sizes as low as USD 1-2. “The next wave of growth in India’s digital consumerism will undoubtedly come from Bharat. We’ve always focused our efforts on enabling entrepreneurs from Tier 2+ markets to expand their business and in turn uplift small economic pockets in the country,” Meesho founder and CEO Vidit Aatrey said.

He added that the company will continue to invest in talent to build best-in-class tech and product solutions, while focusing on growth and furthering its efforts in scaling its online grocery business, Farmiso. “We have evaluated e-commerce opportunities across emerging markets and are excited about Meesho’s focus on strong unit economics and a consumer-first approach… Meesho’s business model has an incredibly compelling value proposition with entrepreneurs, end customers, and suppliers consolidating on one platform,” Kabir Narang, Founding General Partner at B Capital Group, said.