Social commerce platform WMall has raised around Rs 64 crore ($8.90 million at current exchange rates) in a Series B funding round led by Chiratae Ventures and SAIF Partners, according to reports.
The development comes after VCCircle in June reported that SAIF had invested in the startup, which was founded by former Sequoia investment professional Rishabh Verma in September last year.
Apart from Chiratae and SAIF, WMall is also raising funding from Venture Highway entity VH Capital in this round, digital media platform Entrackr reported, citing filings with the Ministry of Corporate Affairs.
VCCircle has reached out to WMall, operated by Blitzscale Technology Solutions Pvt. Ltd, on the investment and will update this report accordingly.
Verma, a graduate of the Indian Institute of Technology-Bombay, had quit Sequoia in March 2018 after working at the venture capital and growth-stage investor for a little more than two years. Previously, he had also worked as the growth and marketing head at Y Combinator-backed ClearTax India.
WMall claims to help under-served segments such as women in Tier-2 and Tier-3 cities buy trusted products online. It offers products to consumers on social platforms such as WhatsApp and YouTube.
The rise of social commerce
The investment in WMall is the latest indicator of strong investor interest in the social commerce segment, as more companies cater to niche audiences and middle- and lower-income segments from non-metropolitan cities.
Earlier this month, Accel India and the China-based Shunwei Capital jointly led a Rs 43.49 crore (around $6 million) Series A round in SimSim, a video commerce app founded by former Paytm, McKinsey and Foodpanda executives.
The investment marked Shunwei’s second in a social commerce platform. In November last year, it took part in a $50 million Series C funding round in the Bengaluru- and California-based Meesho.
In August, Meesho said it raised $125 million in a round led by South African tech conglomerate and investor Naspers. In June, Facebook invested in Meesho five years after first acquiring an Indian startup, Little Eye Labs.
Last month, at least two social commerce startups raised funding. HappyShappy raised seed funding from a clutch of high-profile investors including Beerud Sheth, Samuel Choi, Shivashish Chatterjee and Yuvraja C Singh.