Info Edge Venture Fund backs online commerce platform Bulbulshop

Influencer driven online commerce app Bulbul Shopping Network is set to raise $8.7 million in a new round of funding. Naukri parent Info Edge India’s venture arm, IE Venture Fund I, has invested $6.33 million in the round for a 17.82% stake in the company, Info Edge India said in a disclosure with the stock exchange. 

The balance amount is expected to come from returning investors including Sequoia Capital and Leo Capital, the filings stated. Bulbulshop had last announced raising $2.03 million in March 2019 from a group of investors including $1.5 million as part of Sequoia’s Incubator programme for early stage companies, Surge.

Bulbulshop was founded in December 2018 by co-founder of MakeMyTrip Sachin Bhatia and cofounder of medicine delivery app Pluss, Atit Jain. The company recorded a turnover of Rs 4.5 crore for the financial year 2019-20 according to the filings by Info Edge. 

The firm sells fashion accessories, apparel, small electronics, kitchen appliances, lifestyle and wellness products. It uses a TV shopping network format on live videos where influencers market-specific products on the platform. Bulbulshop has an app as well as a Facebook presence and has over 5 million downloads on the Google Play Store. 

The company competes with content-led commerce platforms such as Surge alumnus Trell, and social commerce platforms such as Naspers backed Meesho and Vertex ventures backed GlowRoad. 

Info Edge Ventures Fund I, which is a $100 million corpus, has already invested over $30 million, including the current investment and $5.21 million in online upskilling platform, Coding Ninja in February. The firm has also backed companies such as customer engagement platform for merchants DotPe, AR Rahman-backed music platform Qyuki Digital Media and e-pharmacy player, Truemeds among others.