Tiger Global leads $144m round for India's DealShare

WestBridge Capital, Z3Partners, DST Global, Matrix Partners India, and Alteria Capital also participated. The investment reportedly gives the company a post-money valuation of $455 million and brings total funding to date to $183 million.

Additional support for the round came from Alpha Wave Incubation, a $300 million fund launched last year by Falcon Edge Capital and United Arab Emirates (UAE)-based investor ADQ that targets a growing cross-border opportunity between Asia and the Middle East. DealShare plans to establish an office in Abu Dhabi as part of a UAE expansion.

DealShare is one of the pioneers of community group buying in India and now the second-best funded player in the local social e-commerce space. The leader is Meesho, a specialist in helping women work from home as resellers, which has raised $490 million to date. This includes a $300 million round in April at a valuation of $2.1 billion. DST is also an investor in Meesho

The rise of social e-commerce in India provides a new angle for investors to leverage themes around a rapid digitization of the country’s micro-retail sector, which has proven resistant to traditional consolidation plays. Other VC-backed social e-commerce start-ups include Shop1010, Kiko TV, and GlowRoad. None of them have raised more than $30 million, according to AVCJ Research.

DealShare aims to differentiate itself through a strong focus on attracting first-time internet users. This includes seeking to feature products at low prices, gamification, direct-from-factory procurement, community leader networking, and viral usage features in vernacular languages. The company claims this model gives it the lowest-cost operations globally.

“We invested in DealShare in its seed days and have seen the company grow rapidly, while consuming minimal capital – a refreshing change in an industry plagued by heavy capital consumption,” Navroz Udwadia, co-founder and CEO at Falcon Edge, said in a statement.

“DealShare demonstrates best-in-class unit economics and capital efficiency, while delivering a compelling value proposition to its customers, value-conscious middle Indians in tier-two and three cities who crave local and regional products.”

The company has served more than three million customers across around 40 cities and towns, facilitating some 20 million orders since its inception in 2018. It plans to increase the customer base to 10 million and growth its footprint from 20 warehouses across five states to 200 warehouses across 10 states by the end of 2021.

Overall, the business is said to have grown 5x during the 2021 financial year, reaching an annual gross merchandise value (GMV) of $200 million. GMV is hoped to hit $1 billion within the year. During this time, a currently 1,000-strong micro-entrepreneur network is targeted to grow fivefold. The company plans to be break-even in the next 12 months.

“We believe India is a unique market with its highly diverse demographics and requires an indigenous model that is built based on first principles and differentiates itself from western and Chinese e-commerce models,” Vineet Rao, CEO and founder of DealShare, said.

“Our monthly active users already use our app over 40 times a month making it the most engaging e-commerce app, and we will continue to add more innovative capabilities and services to serve a wider range of user needs.”

• Tweet  
• Facebook  
• LinkedIn  
• Google plus  
• Save this article  
• Send to  

• Topics
• South Asia
• Consumer
• Expansion
• MENA
• Media
• India
• Tiger Global Management
• WestBridge Capital Partners
• Z3 Partners
• DST Advisors
• Matrix Partners
• Alteria Capital
• Falcon Edge Capital
• e-commerce
• TMT