P2P online marketplace Instamojo raises Series A funding from Kalaari, Blume, others

Mumbai-based Urbanpotion Technologies Pvt Ltd, which operates under the brand Instamojo.com, a P2P platform that enables users to give away unused goods by sharing a unique link for the same, has secured an undisclosed sum in Series A funding from Kalaari Capital, it said in a blog post. The round also saw participations from existing investors including Blume Ventures and 500Startups.

As part of the deal, Vani Kola, managing director of Kalaari, will join Instamojo's board, along with Blume Ventures' managing partner Karthik Reddy.

Instamojo will use the money for marketing, product development & expanding the team. The firm will also set up an office in Bangalore.

"We have raised our Series A funding from Kalaari Capital to build our vision of democratising payments for individuals, micro merchants, infopreneurs, freelancers, SMBs with our innovative link-based payments platform," reads the blog post.

The startup was founded in 2012 by Sampad Swain, Aditya Sengupta, Akash Gehani and Harshad Sharma. Instamojo allows users to sell reports, code, documents, photos, templates, tutorials, music and videos for free by just sharing a link. Users need to list the stuff they want to give away and Instamojo, in turn, creates a page for the posting. The unique link of the page can then be shared with friends, fans and followers. When someone interested claims it, the owner gets an intimation e-mail and can give it away. The platform is available for users across the world.

One can upload an offer for free, be it a physical product or sharing one's skills via scheduling a time-based event. In order to start off, you need to register via Facebook and go to the dashboard where you will be able to upload the product and schedule the timing. The company will also arrange regular meet-ups so that people can collect the things they have claimed.

Instamojo recently launched an app store on its platform to enable users to subscribe to other similar apps available in the market. It is now planning to launch a referral programme so that both buyers and sellers alike can earn referring their friends to Instamojo, enabling them to collect payments online.

In February last year, the startup had secured an undisclosed amount in funding from Blume Ventures.

(Edited by Joby Puthuparampil Johnson)