Meesho Secures $125M to Empower Millions of Indian Social Sellers
Bangalore-based social commerce startup Meesho raises $125 million in a Series D round led by Naspers to expand its reseller network across India. The platform aims to onboard millions of new sellers, primarily empowering homemakers to build online businesses.
Meesho, a Bangalore-based social commerce startup, raises $125 million in a Series D financing round led by Naspers to expand its online marketplace across India. Existing investors SAIF, Sequoia, Shunwei Capital, RPS, and Venture Highway participate in the round, alongside new participants Facebook and former Vodafone CEO Arun Sarin. This new investment brings the four-year-old company's total raised capital to $190 million as it attempts to change how millions of people shop online.
The startup operates an online marketplace that connects sellers with customers through popular social media platforms like WhatsApp, Facebook, and Instagram. Meesho currently boasts a network of over 2 million resellers from 700 towns who sell apparel, home appliances, and electronics. Eighty percent of this user base is female, and the company reports that 70 percent of its active sellers are homemakers who achieve financial independence without leaving their houses.
Meesho plans to use the fresh capital to significantly expand its reach and add up to 18 million new sellers by the end of next year. The company focuses on bringing offline, unorganized businesses into the digital economy, especially those that lack the working capital to build their own online presence. Additionally, the startup intends to upgrade its technology platform to accommodate new product lines and better serve the next wave of 500 million online shoppers in India.