Snapdeal has reportedly invested $100m in Shopo, a zero-commission mobile-only platform it acquired in 2013. The Indian e-commerce giant is hoping to build up the app into a one million seller-strong platform.
“We launched Shopo in mid-July and we already have 20,000 shops on the platform. The response we have got, only from word of mouth, is overwhelming,” Snapdeal co-founder and CEO Kunal Bahl told Press Trust of India.
He also added that the team is confident of reaching the one million figure in terms of shops that have signed up.
The investment will be spread out over the period of two years to expand Shopo’s brand.
“Over the next two years, we will invest about $100 million in ramping up technology and brand building. We are also working on a community of ‘Shopo angels’ to drive consumer engagement,” he added.
The platform was developed by a 14-man team, apart from being known for its zero-commission model, the platform aims to bring small and medium businesses that struggle on the bigger marketplaces online.
Snapdeal’s CEO indicated that advertising could become Shopo’s main revenue stream.
“We can look at options like advertising to make money. The idea of Shopo is to bring online as many sellers as possible,” he commented.
Whitepapers
Related reading
The latest issue of Payments [R]Evolution magazine is here
The industry-leading magazine is available to download now.
Dimebox CEO Raymundo Leefmans: “Bringing value to merchants is more important than just processing transactions from A to B.”
"Big players and traditional acquirers are struggling to get out of the commodity corner, to the point of providing agile services that allow them to be omni-channel and data-centric. That is what we provide, an opportunity to fulfill those goals."
Currencycloud secures a $25m investment from Google
The funding round totalled $61m, and will used to finance the company's global expansion plans.
Wirex, Paytm are latest digital payments companies to complete funding rounds
Monzo also revealed its latest funding round last week.
