Internet commerce enabler Swift on Monday said it has raised USD 2.2 million (about Rs 16.3 crore) in funding, led by Kalaari Capital. The pre-series A funding round also saw participation from existing investors, FirstCheque, Indian Angel Network, and other angel investors, a statement said. “The funds from this round will be used to scale engineering efforts and simplify complex business workflows across checkout, payments, and fulfillment. Swift believes in realising efficiencies for its sellers through intuitive design, self-serve automation, and data-driven intelligent systems,” it added.
Founded in 2019 by Shyam Kalita, Prayas Mittal, and Debanshu Sinha, Swift’s commerce platform helps SMEs, D2C and omnichannel brands run their internet commerce ventures. “The internet commerce infrastructure in India has been built to serve large marketplaces making it impossible for smaller brands to compete with them. This is clearly visible in the small proportion of online orders placed via D2C storefronts vis-a-vis marketplaces Swift co-founder Shyam Kalita said. Kalita added that the company’s checkout product helps brands interact seamlessly with customers by providing afunding , Kalaari Capital, unified one-tap layer for marketing, cart management, and payments.
Swift’s flagship fulfillment product, on the other hand, helps sellers manage, process, and deliver better. Put together, the platform can power the growth of India’s internet economy, he added. Kiran Vasireddy, Partner at Kalaari Capital, stated that the D2C (direct to consumer) ecosystem and vertical e-commerce in India have been growing rapidly in the last few years. “We believe building solutions that cater to online brands and SMEs (small and medium-sized enterprises), which will help them to compete with large horizontal e-commerce players, will be a large opportunity going forward.
Swift is building a full-stack e-commerce enablement platform that brands, SMEs, and e-commerce platforms are finding value in, and we are impressed by the team’s vision and execution, Vasireddy added. The D2C space in India is expected to become a USD 100 billion market by 2025 while internet spending is estimated to grow at over 39 per cent CAGR, the statement said.
Pingback: COVID 2nd wave may have more lasting damage on economy,: Moody's Analytics