iPanache Pvt. Ltd, which runs social gifting platform CheersOye!, has raised angel funding from a group of affluent individuals, co-founder Rahul Shrivastava told VCCircle.
Shrivastava said that the Mumbai-based company raised a little less than $500,000 (Rs 3.35 crore) and that it plans to use the funding to introduce other entertainment categories, hire staff and expand to other cities. He declined to disclose the names of the investors.
CheersOye! is a social payments and gifting platform that allows users to pay via its app for personalised experiences and send such gifts to a friend’s mobile instantly via e-vouchers on SMS or e-mail, said Shrivastava.
The company was founded in 2015 by Bhavna Lalchandani and Shrivastava. Lalchandani was the business insights and analytics lead at Yahoo! before founding CheersOye! while Shrivastava was working as a digital marketing expert with Zee Digital before starting up.
CheersOye! currently allows users to gift dining, spa and salon experiences. It plans to add other categories such as jewellery and designer wear as well as fitness, travel and entertainment in the next few months.
How it works
The sender recommends a personalised experience and selects a merchant. The user then needs to enter the recipient's details and make a payment for the voucher value via CheersOye website or mobile app.
The recipient will receive an e-voucher on the mobile phone or email id along with the voucher details as a personal message or email. The voucher can then be redeemed from the merchant.
The merchants get real-time updates on the dashboard with the voucher and recipient details.
Traction, growth plans
CheersOye! competes with the likes of online gift store Woohoo.in. The company claims its Android and iOS app has crossed 50,000 downloads and the platform has 35% repeat usage. It also has tie-ups with 1,000 merchant outlets covering 50 localities in Mumbai.
The startup has brands such as The Barking Deer, Intercontinental Long & Short, Ramada Palm Grove, Baskin Robbins, Krispy Kreme, Persian Darbar, Bombay Barbeque and Cream Centre in its portfolio.
The company aims to facilitate a billion transactions across 20,000 merchants pan-India by 2018-19. It plans to introduce a self-serve model for merchants which will enable them to join the platform in one click.
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