India's Wooplr raises $8m Series B

Existing investor Helion Venture Partners also participated in the round, along with Singapore-based tech-focused PE firm Amereus Group. The company will use the new capital to expand its product selection and improve its technology.

Wooplr offers a fashion-oriented social network integrated with e-commerce. The interface is primarily intended to let users upload pictures of themselves and their clothes; their friends can then research the brands, find nearby stores selling the same outfits, or buy the clothes directly through the mobile app or website. Retailers partner with Wooplr to be listed in the app, and results are customized based on the user’s location, interests and social circle.

The company launched in 2013 as a pure social network, later adding the marketplace features. It now partners with 200 brands including Forever21 and Zara, which pay a commission to Wooplr for sales through the app. A key feature allows popular users who frequently upload images and engage with others to be marked as opinion leaders who can then promote partnered brands.

Wooplr raised a $225,000 seed round prior to its launch, which was followed by a $5 million Series A round in 2015 led by Helion. Astarc Ventures and Anand Chandrasekhan, a director at Facebook and former CPO for online marketplace Snapdeal, also contributed separate undisclosed investments last year.

SAF is a proprietary VC fund launched by Russian conglomerate Sistema JSFC that invests in emerging leaders in technology-enabled consumer businesses. Its recent investments in India include a funding round for gift card technology developer Qwikcilver in July, and a $12 million Series B round in April for data security solutions provider Seclore.

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• Topics
• South Asia
• Technology
• Consumer
• Early-stage
• India
• Helion Ventures
• TMT
• Venture