Dealshare Startup Story
DealShare, an e-commerce firm, announced on Thursday that Innoven Capital had provided it with Rs 25 crore in debt financing. DealShare is soliciting funds for the second time in the previous six months. DealShare raised Rs 153 crore in round C funding from WestBridge Capital, Alpha Wave Incubation, Z3Partners, Matrix Partners India, and Omidyar Network India in December 2020.
DealShare has raised a total of Rs 267 crore with this latest round of fundraising, according to a release.
“DealShare has always been driven by a desire to make e-commerce accessible to the general public, particularly the low- and middle-income population. Our mission has been to meet the purchasing demands of the 500 million new internet users by providing high-quality products at reasonable costs since our beginning “Vineet Rao, the CEO and creator of DealShare stated.
DealShare, a Jaipur-based firm, is a social commerce-based deals platform that offers discounts on groceries and other everyday things through its smartphone. Matrix Partners and other investors have contributed $3.4 million.
A social commerce company from Jaipur is outperforming its larger counterparts at a time when e-commerce giants like Flipkart and Amazon are sweeping the country with their bargains and festive sales.
DealShare was founded in September 2018 in Jaipur, Rajasthan, by Vineet Rao, Sankar Bora, and Sourjyendu Medda, all 40 years old.
With mass-market items, the firm, which operates on a social commerce model, primarily targets non-metro and middle-income customers in India. To attract non-metro consumers, DealShare has included regional languages.
It offers deals and discounts on everyday items like snacks and other food items like fruits, vegetables, and dry fruits, FMCG products like lotions, soaps, cleaning liquids, and other home items like linen, buckets, and mops, as well as household commodities like linen, buckets, and mops.
DealShare claims to process more than 10,000 orders each day, up from 20 orders per day when it first started. Matrix Partners India, Falcon Edge Capital, and Omidyar Network have also invested in the firm.
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How does it work?
The DealShare app, which is now accessible on Google Play, has over 400,000 downloads. It operates on a discovery-led business model, allowing users to find the best bargains on everyday things such as groceries, personal care, home care, electronics, gift packs, and so on.
The firm claims to offer lower prices than wholesale and claims to make purchasing exceedingly simple with just a few taps on the app. There is a bargain associated with each product featured on the app. To assist regional users, the app has been made available in English, Hindi, and Gujarati.
“Because it’s a social model, you may exchange order URLs with friends to get even more discounts and bargains.” “When an order is received, the order management staff notifies the warehouse, and a pickup is scheduled from the warehouse,” Vineet explains.
DealShare also provides free home delivery and cash-on-delivery options to make the transaction go more smoothly, especially for the elderly and others who are less tech-savvy.
The company has also formed WhatsApp groups for existing clients to keep them updated on special offers and promotions. It has around 100 WhatsApp groups, with over 15,000 customers receiving hourly updates on the best prices.
DealShare distributes roughly 10,000 orders per day, with an average of 550 stock-keeping units (SKU) across all categories. It now has roughly 150 manufacturers and suppliers, with 70 percent of them being regional or local.
Challenges and the team
Vineet spent more than a decade at Microsoft in Seattle, where he built business databases and cloud products. He also worked on consumer and mobile AI technologies, including the original iteration of Microsoft’s AI assistant, Cortana.
Sourjyendu has worked at Metro Cash & Carry in India and Raymonds as the Head of Sales. He has also led Metro Cash & Carry’s Reseller business, CRM, and pricing functions in India.
Sankar Bora, who was the COO of AEON Learning and has 19 years of expertise in scaling organizations, joined the team as a co-founder. Rishav Dev, who has worked for both the UN and Grofers, was also brought in. For decades, all of the founders have been buddies. Rajat Shikhar, who formerly worked at FoodPanda and Jabong, is also a founding member of the company.
The startup employs 50 people. DealShare obtains its products directly from local manufacturers and suppliers, and each item on the platform is sold at a steep discount, with consumers able to save even more money by group purchasing with friends and family.
However, when it came to setting up the company and scaling it, the startup, which grew so quickly in such a short period, faced numerous hurdles.
According to Vineet, there was a lack of knowledge of consumer behavior because most current e-commerce caters to the upper segment of society.
DealShare sought to appeal to middle- and lower-income households, which account for the majority of consumption in the country, therefore a lot of time had to be spent with the consumer to grasp things, according to him.
“Second, establishing a network of local producers was difficult because the major goal was to connect local manufacturers with consumers.” Third, getting the initial set of customers was difficult because the target population was radically different, and one-on-one selling was required,” explains Vineet.
Future projections and numbers
In India, social commerce is rapidly growing. Meesho, backed by Facebook, focuses on small and medium businesses as well as Tier II and III cities. According to projections, the total e-commerce market would reach $84 billion by 2021.
DealShare has raised $3.4 million in funding from Matrix Partners India, Falcon Edge Capital, Omidyar Network, and other angel investors since its founding. The firm is in talks with possible investors for a new round of funding of $8 to $10 million, which will be utilized to expand to Tier II and III towns around the country. It also intends to increase its monthly revenue.
“DealShare wants to densify its operations further in Rajasthan and Gujarat with presence in all cities with a population of more than three lakh,” Vineet said of their future goals. In the next two months, it wants to expand into Maharashtra, Delhi-NCR, and Punjab, and in the next six months, it expects to be present in over 100 cities and towns, large and small.”
Download DealShare App : Link Here
