DealShare, a social commerce startup that focusses on the grocery segment, said Tuesday it has raised $21 million (around Rs 155 crore) as part of its Series C funding round led by private equity firm Westbridge Capital.
Alpha Wave Incubation, a venture fund managed by Falcon Edge Capital, and Z3Partners, a Mumbai-based early-growth private equity fund, also participated in this funding round, DealShare said in a statement.
Existing investors Matrix Partners India and Omidyar, and some angel investors also contributed.
The startup said it has raised $34 million so far in funding.
DealShare co-founder and CEO Vineet Rao said the company will use the funds to strengthen its technology platform and team. It will also use the fund to scale its “Made-for-India” solution, he added.
The investment will also help the company expand its presence in new and existing markets, said Sourjyendu Medda, co-founder and chief business officer, DealShare.
The startup aims to increase its footprint to 100 cities and towns across five states in the next one year. Currently, DealShare is present in 25 cities and towns across Rajasthan, Gujarat, Maharashtra and Karnataka.
“This investment will take us to an annual gross merchandise value of Rs 2,500 crore,” Medda said.
DealShare, operated by Merabo Labs Pvt. Ltd, was founded by Rao, Medda, Sankar Bora, Rishav Dev and Rajat Shikhar. The company sources products directly from local manufacturers and suppliers. Every item on its platform is offered at a discount. Its services are targeted at middle- and lower-income people in smaller cities and towns.
Sandeep Singhal, co-founder and managing director at WestBridge, said the buying pattern of low and middle-income groups is different, especially in smaller markets, and DealShare seems to have understood the nuances very well.
“We are very impressed with how the team has scaled up in the last two years, while retaining a sharp focus on the low-cost, high-impact model,” he added.
The broader social commerce space has recorded several transactions in the last couple of years.
Meesho is the most heavily funded startup in the space as it bagged $125 million in a round led by South African tech investor Naspers in August last year. Social networking giant Facebook Inc., which had invested in Meesho earlier, also participated in that round.
Last month, social e-commerce platform CityMall pulled in seed funding and GlowRoad raised Rs 52 crore in funding from a clutch of existing investors.
In September, coupons and cashback platform CashKaro raised around Rs 73.4 crore in a Series B round led by Korea Investment Partners to expand its social commerce arm EarnKaro.
In August, video and commerce platform Trell raised Rs 85 crore in a Series A funding round led by KTB Network, a South Korea-based financial services group.
