Meesho

Meesho
Industry[[E- ]]
FoundedDecember 2015; 9 years ago (2015-12)
Founders
  • Vidit Aatrey
  • Sanjeev Barnwal
HeadquartersBangalore, Karnataka, India
Area served
India
Key people
ServicesOnline shopping
RevenueIncrease ₹5,735 crore (US$670 million) (FY23)[2]
Positive decrease ₹−1,675 crore (US$−200 million) (FY23)[2]
OwnerFashnear Technologies Private Limited
Websitewww.meesho.com

Fashnear Technologies Private Limited doing business as Meesho (short for Meri Shop, trans. My Shop)[3] is an Indian e-commerce company headquartered in Bangalore.[4][5] It is an online marketplace that facilitates trade between suppliers, resellers and customers, with heavy reliance of external social media platforms such as Facebook and Instagram.[5][6]

History

Fashnear Technologies Private Limited was established by IIT Delhi graduates Vidit Aatrey and Sanjeev Barnwal in December, 2015[7][8] as an on-demand delivery service like Swiggy but for fashion products from local shops. The startup failed. In 2016, the founders came up with the idea of re-establishing the platform as Meesho, one that would enable country-wide shipping for resellers with the use of social media sites as tools for marketing.[9][4]

Meesho had 209,000 users and 1.2 million orders per month in February 2019 and 563,000 users and 3.1 million orders per month in March 2020.[10] It saw big growth during 2021 and 2022.[11] Meesho's monthly transacting user count rose 26 times during 2020–2022. Globally, Meesho mobile app was among the top most downloaded apps in 2021.[12] In 2022, Meesho had about 120 million monthly users and about 910 million orders were made through the platform. It soon became one of India's fastest growing e-commerce platforms.[13] Its gross merchandise value (GMV) increased ninefold in two years[13] and was at about $5 billion in 2022 (for comparison, Flipkart's GMV stood at $23 billion).[14][15]

In 2023, Meesho was named one of the most influential companies of the year by Time (magazine).[16][17] In the same year, Meesho also became the fastest shopping app to cross over 500 million downloads.[18][19]

In 2024, Meesho introduced Valmo, a logistics marketplace, to provide shipment services to sellers by aggregating multiple logistics providers. Meesho employs over 3,000 small businesses and 10-12 large firms for warehousing and sorting operations within its logistics framework.[20]

According to a report by The Economic Times, Meesho's Gross Merchandise Value (GMV) exceeds $5 billion, with a focus on fashion, beauty, and home categories. The platform boasts 120 million monthly active users, with 80% of its sellers identified as retail business owners and 95% of its offerings being unbranded.[21]

Funding

Meesho is funded by multiple investment companies including Fidelity, Softbank,[22] Prosus, B Capital, Sequoia India[23] and Meta.[24] Meesho has held many funding rounds.

  • Series A in October 2017: US$3.4 million[25]
  • Series B in June 2018: US$11.5 million[23]
  • Series C in November 2018: US$50 million[26]
  • Series D in June 2019: US$25 million funded by Meta Platforms. Meesho became the first startup in India to receive investment funding from Facebook.[24]
  • Series F in September, 2021: Meesho, announced funding of US$570 million led by Fidelity Management & Research Company and B Capital Group.[citation needed]

In 2021, the company announced that it had raised approximately US$1.1 billion in funding thus far and currently has a cash buffer of US$400 million.[27][28][29]

See also

References

  1. ^ Singh, Rajiv (11 November 2021). "How Meesho's Big, Bold Bets Took It Close To $5-billion Valuation At Lightning Speed". Forbes India. Retrieved 20 September 2023.
  2. ^ a b Manchanada, Kunal (29 December 2023). "Meesho reports Rs 5,735 Cr revenue in FY23; losses shrink 48%". Entrackr. Retrieved 27 January 2024.
  3. ^ "Meet Vidit Aatrey And Sanjeev Barnwal, The Meesho Founders Whose Earlier Venture Failed". News18. 12 April 2023. Retrieved 1 June 2024.
  4. ^ a b "Vidit Aatrey & Sanjeev Barnwal: Redefining Distribution With Meesho". Forbes India. Retrieved 17 May 2023.
  5. ^ a b "Tech in Asia – Connecting Asia's startup ecosystem". techinasia.com. Retrieved 17 May 2023.
  6. ^ Purnell, Newley (22 October 2022). "Meta-Backed Meesho Is Beating Amazon, Walmart in Race for Indian Shoppers". WSJ. Retrieved 20 September 2023.
  7. ^ "Meesho Creates Stores for Indian SMBs Selling Through WhatsApp". Y Combinator. Retrieved 17 May 2023.
  8. ^ "Vidit Aatrey & Sanjeev Barnwal: Redefining Distribution With Meesho". Forbes India. Retrieved 1 June 2024.
  9. ^ Russell, Jon (18 August 2016). "Meesho wants to make selling through WhatsApp more efficient and less painful". TechCrunch. Palo Alto, California. Retrieved 26 August 2023.
  10. ^ "Meesho logs 17.8 mn users in Sept; aims to reach 100 mn by Dec 2022". Business Today. 16 November 2021. Retrieved 17 May 2023.
  11. ^ Purnell, Newley (22 October 2022). "Meta-Backed Meesho Is Beating Amazon, Walmart in Race for Indian Shoppers". Wall Street Journal. ISSN 0099-9660. Retrieved 30 May 2023.
  12. ^ "How Meesho's Big, Bold Bets Took It Close To $5-billion Valuation At Lightning Speed". Forbes India. Retrieved 17 May 2023.
  13. ^ a b "Meesho's growing scale, differentiated business model make profitability a reality in 2023: Jefferies". The Hindu. 24 April 2023. ISSN 0971-751X. Retrieved 17 May 2023.
  14. ^ "Meesho's average monthly user count 55 per cent that of Flipkart, Amazon India: Report". www.thehindubusinessline.com. 22 April 2023. Retrieved 17 May 2023.
  15. ^ "With 910 million orders in 2022, Meesho grew 135% y-o-y". Financialexpress. 22 December 2022. Retrieved 17 May 2023.
  16. ^ "TIME100 MOST INFLUENTIAL COMPANIES 2023". Time. Tara Law. Retrieved 21 June 2023.
  17. ^ "Meesho on TIME's 100 most influential companies". moneycontrol.com/. MONEYCONTROL NEWS. Retrieved 22 June 2023.
  18. ^ "Meesho becomes world's fastest shopping app to cross 500 mn downloads". business-standard.com/. Peerzada Abrar. Retrieved 1 June 2023.
  19. ^ "'Meesho becomes world's fastest shopping app to cross 500 million". timesofindia.indiatimes.com/. Asmita Dey. Retrieved 2 June 2023.
  20. ^ "Meesho launches logistics vertical Valmo". The Economic Times. 7 February 2024. Retrieved 4 April 2024.
  21. ^ Goel, Pallavi (25 January 2024). "ET Retail". ETRetail.com. Retrieved 4 April 2024.
  22. ^ "Meesho's growing scale, differentiated business model make profitability a reality in 2023: Jefferies". The Hindu. 24 April 2023. ISSN 0971-751X. Retrieved 17 May 2023.
  23. ^ a b Shu, Catherine (7 June 2018). ""Social selling" startup Meesho lands $11.5M Series B led by Sequoia India". TechCrunch. Retrieved 26 August 2023.
  24. ^ a b Singh, Manish (13 June 2019). "Facebook backs social commerce startup Meesho in first India investment". TechCrunch. Retrieved 17 May 2023.
  25. ^ Shu, Catherine (13 October 2017). "Social commerce startup Meesho gets $3.4M Series A to build a reseller network in India". TechCrunch. Retrieved 26 August 2023.
  26. ^ Russell, Jon (6 November 2018). "India's Meesho, which enables social commerce via WhatsApp, raises $50M". TechCrunch. Retrieved 26 August 2023.
  27. ^ "Meesho raises more than half a billion dollars in the fourth biggest funding round this year". www.businessinsider.in. Retrieved 17 May 2023.
  28. ^ "Social e-com firm Meesho eyes $500-mn war chest; funds to be used for M&As". www.business-standard.com. 25 March 2022. Retrieved 17 May 2023.
  29. ^ "Meesho eyes EBITDA breakeven this year". FashionNetwork.com. Retrieved 17 May 2023.