Social commerce unicorn Meesho raises $570 million at a $4.9Bn valuation

Continuing to bank on its strong (even though controversial) growth numbers, social commerce platform Meesho, has announced a fresh $570Mn fundraise. The raise comes at a staggering $4.9Bn valuation, more than doubling Meesho’s value within a span of just six months. This latest series F funding round was led by Fidelity Management and Eduardo Saverin’s B Capital.

Existing investors Prosus Ventures, SoftBank Vision Fund 2, and Facebook participated. Another set of new investors added include Footpath Ventures, Trifecta Capital, and Good Capital.

This round comes after the six-year-old Meesho had become a unicorn in April (it was then valued at $2.1 billion after raising $300 million). Since then, Meesho claims to have tripled its order volume, while adding several new product categories such as sports and fitness, pet supplies, and automotive accessories. For now, it will double down on tech and product capabilities.

The Bangalore-headquartered Meesho is known to help small businesses and individuals to start their online stores via social media channels such as WhatsApp, Facebook, Instagram. Its three-sided marketplace operates with suppliers, resellers, and customers – the suppliers sell products to the resellers who then sell them to customers and earn commission on each transaction. The start-up has plans to reach 100 million monthly transacting users by December 2022, as well as triple its tech and product team over the next 12 to 18 months.

Social media has been beneficial for businesses to operate, especially since the pandemic has forced people to go digital. With this, they can reach millions of customers at the click of a button. The immense popularity of social media in India has been led by Facebook, WhatsApp, and Instagram, and they have been the key to the growth of social commerce in the world’s second-largest internet market. Meesho has come a long way – it has over 13 million resellers, 45 million customers, and over 1 lakh suppliers.

“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. We are excited to partner with Meesho and its exceptional team that is democratizing e-commerce for a billion internet users across the country. Meesho’s business model has an incredibly compelling value proposition with entrepreneurs, end customers, and suppliers consolidating on one platform,” said Kabir Narang, founding general partner at B Capital Group.

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