Mumbai-based Shopsense raises seed funding from Kae Capital, others

Mumbai-based technology company Shopsense has raised an undisclosed amount in seed funding led by Kae Capital. A group of angels under Powai Lake Ventures and Jehaan Mehta also participated in the round. The capital will be used to set up a development team as well as in technology enhancement.

The startup was founded in 2012 by IIT Bombay alumni Farooq Adam, Harsh Shah and Sreeraman MG. Shopsense claims to provide the touch and feel experience of physical shopping combined with the ease of digital shopping. For instance, one of its products called 'match' works by building large capacitive touchscreens at physical stores where customers can browse products, search for new ones and share with friends for feedback via email or social networks.

Its second product called 'react' works by propping an item on a stand or wall and let it interact with customers. The third product, 'explorer' is deployed as an app and lets customers navigate stores and locate products easily. It is built on the Shopsense Cloud Infrastructure and provides retailers with customer behaviour and preference analytics. As of now, only 'match' is live and has been tested at a couple of stores. "Shopsense has credible founders and a large market opportunity. The amalgamation of technology in retail is much needed and this has the potential to make shopping highly interactive," said Sasha Mirchandani, MD, Kae Capital.

Kae Capital is a Mumbai-based early-stage VC fund that invests in pre-Series A stage in technology-focused startups. Powai Lake Ventures (PLV) is a group of angel investors that includes names like Zishaan Hayath, Abhishek Jain, Shishir Kapoor, Vaibhav Puranik, Saurabh Saxena and Gagan Goyal. Other investments of PLV include Ola Cabs, Housing.co.in, Chaayos and Tushky.

(Edited by Joby Puthuparampil Johnson)