Meesho, an Indian social commerce platform with 150 million transacting users, raises $275 million

Meesho, India’s leading e-commerce startup with around 150 million transacting users, has secured $275 million in a brand new round of funding, says the corporate revealed within the securities filing.

The latest financing is a component of a bigger financing round that’s more likely to include secondary transactions and exceed an amount of greater than $500 million, people familiar with the matter told TechCrunch.

The Bengaluru-based startup, which operates a social commerce platform, is valued at around $3.9 billion on this round, the people said, asking to not be identified because discussions are still ongoing. The startup, which has raised over $1.2 billion so far, was valued at $4.9 billion when it last raised capital in September 2021.

Several investors tried to get into Meesho, including WestBridge Capital and Norwest Venture Partners. Last yr, WestBridge bought shares of Meesho from Venture Highway, an early sponsor. The company counts Meta, Fidelity, Peak XV, Prosus Ventures, B Capital and SoftBank amongst its sponsors.

Indian every day The Economic Times first reported latest financing.

Meesho is certainly one of the fastest growing e-commerce startups within the country. Bernstein analysts estimated earlier this yr that its GMV was greater than $5 billion.

Meesho has successfully captured the eye of value-conscious Indians with its attractively priced, diverse and unbranded range of products. The startup’s value proposition seems to resonate well with low- and middle-income customers, who constitute the majority of India’s consumer class.

With 440,000 sellers transacting annually and over 120 million listings, Meesho boasts certainly one of the widest merchandise assortments across platforms, catering to the complex and heterogeneous preferences of the Indian market, Jefferies wrote in a recent note to its clients.

Traditional e-commerce platforms in India mainly concentrate on high-income consumers and branded suppliers, leading to average order value (AOV) well above ₹ 1,000 (roughly $ 12). In contrast, Meesho’s AOV is usually under £350.

“The Meesho algorithm prioritizes offers by taking into account many factors, including seller rating, product rating, customer reviews, past customer purchasing behavior, product popularity, etc. Therefore, price also affects the discoverability of product information in the market.” Written by Jefferies analysts.

“Meesho’s order fulfillment fees are significantly lower than other providers, which allows the platform to offer customers lower prices compared to competitors. To reduce costs, Meesho uses a resource-saving model and outsources delivery to third parties. Meesho has almost half the share of India’s annual 3PL e-logistics shipments,” Jefferies’ note said.

But the competition is gaining momentum. Amazon India recently launched Bazaar, a ‘specialty store’ offering inexpensive and classy fashion and lifestyle products.