DealShare lands $21 mn Series C, aims to expand footprint to 100 cities

Jaipur based Merabo Labs, which runs social commerce platform DealShare, has raised $21 million (Rs 154 crore at current exchange rates) of Series C funding led by homegrown private equity firm WestBridge Capital.

The company will also use the fresh funds to expand its brand presence across existing and new markets. It is targeting to increase its footprint to 100 cities and towns across 5 states over the next one year.

Alpha Wave Incubation, a venture fund managed by Falcon Edge Capital; early-growth private equity fund Z3 Partners; and returning investors Matrix Partners India and Omidyar Network India participated in this round.

This round also saw investment from independent angel investors, the company said in a statement.

In its last funding round, DealShare raised $11 million from Matrix Partners India, Falcon Edge, and Omidyar Network along with a handful of angel investors.  

“The buying pattern of low- and middle-income group 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 2 years, while retaining a sharp focus on low cost, high impact model,”  Sandeep Singhal, co-founder and managing director, WestBridge, said.

Founded in 2018, DealShare offers grocery and home care products to middle and lower income consumers in tier II and III towns. It procures products from local manufacturers and provides them with a platform to digitize their business.

“We plan to use the funds to strengthen our technology platform & talent pool and scale our unique “Made-for-India” solution. Over the last two years, we have witnessed rapid adoption of our app amongst tier 2, 3 cities and will continue with this growth journey,” Vineet Rao, founder and chief executive officer, DealShare, said.

Rao, a former Microsoft executive, founded the startup with Sourjyendu Medda, former sales head at Metro Cash and Carry, Sankar Bora, co-founder of Flipkart-owned Myntra, Rishav Dev, a former Grofers executive, and Rajat Shikhar, former chief product officer at Foodpanda.

Currently, the startup is present in over 25 cities and towns across Rajasthan, Gujarat, Maharashtra and Karnataka. The company claims to serve about 25 thousand orders on a daily basis. DealShare has partnered with 1000 brands of which 70% are local and regional brands.

“Along with this, we will increase our customer base to 1 crore. This investment will take us to an annual GMV of Rs 2500 crores”, Medda said.

The company said it currently clocks revenues of over $45 million.