Mumbai-based Omnipresent Retail Pvt Ltd, which owns and operates online shopping portal , has received $600,000 (Rs 4 crore) in funding from Singapore-based C Cube Angels. The company will use the money to scale up its operations and expand to more cities.
In April 2012, the company had raised $1 million from a consortium of investors, including Four-S Services’ founder and CEO Satyendra Shukla.
edabba was founded in October 2011 by Manoj Kumar (CEO) and Saurabh B Chadha (COO). An IIM Lucknow alumnus, Kumar earlier worked with Future Group, Spencer’s Retail and BPL. His partner Chadha holds a PG Diploma in Rural Management from Institute of Rural Management Anand and previously worked with Future Group, Spencer’s Retail and Trent Ltd.
The e-commerce venture aims to bring e-tailing to the untapped market of B and C class cities with the help of a hybrid model of ‘brick & click’. For the same, in addition to the e-com site, the company has partnered with various offline retailers across segments and is using their infrastructure and reach to sell products and services. It offers products like jewellery, sunglasses, silver and gold coins, personal care and beauty products, phones, cameras, computers, music and movies.
The portal also used to offer organic food and air-ticketing; however, these services seem to have been stopped now. Stiff competition from leading OTAs such as MakeMyTrip, Yatra and Cleartrip could have probably forced the portal to stop the online air-ticketing feature.
While the e-com part functions similar to any other site, in the offline world, customers can go to the company's kiosk, called trustpoint, and the attendant there will help them look for products they want and place order on their behalf. The customer makes the payment to the attendant and the product is shipped to either the buyer’s address or to that particular shop. The firm claims that currently it has 416 trustpoints across nine states and more than 150 cities in India.
Formed by a group of more than 125 investors, C Cube is a sector-agnostic fund that invests in early stage companies. The firm is focusing on India and the ASEAN markets. C Cube also provides strategic counselling, network connectivity and risk capital to its portfolio firms. Its investee companies include Reasoning Global eApplications, Adception Infotech and Simbus Technologies, and now edabba.
(Edited by Joby Puthuparampil Johnson)