Social commerce startup VioletStreet & ride sharing app Ziffy raise over $16K each

Social commerce startup VioletStreet.com and Ziffy, an app for ride sharing, managed to get an investment of Rs 10 lakh (over $16,000) each at the 'SmashUp' event organised by TiE, Hyderabad, according to a report by The Hindu Business Line. The two startups were selected among nine startups that had pitched their respective business models to eight investors.

Talking about his two-month-old startup based on women fashion, engineering graduate Ankur Gupta of VioletStreet.com said, "Our social commerce portal helps women shoppers pick and match different clothing items available on various e-commerce sites. Based on the occasion, we also make suggestions to the shoppers. There is a controlled chat option where the shoppers can also send the pictures to their near and dear ones and ask their opinion on their choices."

In its segment, VioletStreet competes with Tiger Global-backed Limeroad.com that had recently raised $15 million in its Series B round of funding. Another player in this space is Seedfund-backed Voonik.com, a platform that uses inputs such a body shape, skin tone, height and personal style and tastes to help customers choose the best possible product for them.

While VioletStreet is an e-commerce startup, Ziffy is addressing the everyday problem of commuting through ride sharing. Ziffy lets people offer ride sharing services. It lets users carpool with an option to choose time and location from the app. Ziffy is receiving feedback from its customers to further development the product. Recently, mobile-based auto rickshaw booking service mGaadi raised funds from Unitus Seed Fund.

The other startups that participated in the contest were Newsdeck120, which compresses news stories to a smaller size and also converts them to audio format in various accents; Everchat that helps in creating location-based chat rooms, and Science Pandits which is about helping scientists update their knowledge on various topics.

Murali Bukkapatnam, president, TiE-Hyderabad, said that the idea behind organising the event was to bring together stakeholders and play an active part in creating an inclusive ecosystem to promote entrepreneurship.

(Edited by Joby Puthuparampil Johnson)