Meesho's valuation reaches $2.1 billion as it raises $300 million from Softbank Vision Fund 2

• Existing investors, including Prosus Ventures, Facebook, Shunwei Capital, Venture Highway, and Knollwood Investment, also participated in the round.
• With this funding, Meesho will continue to expand to reach 100 million small businesses and hiring talent.
• Previously, It had raised $125 million from various investors at a valuation of about $700 million.

Bengaluru-based social commerce startup Meesho, in another round, has raised $300 million (or about Rs 2,202 crore) in a new funding round led by Softbank Vision Fund 2 at a valuation of $2.1 billion (Rs 15,418 crore). Existing investors, including Prosus Ventures, Facebook, Shunwei Capital, Venture Highway, and Knollwood Investment, also participated in the funding round.

With this funding, Meesho will continue to expand its presence, hiring talent, and growing its team across technology, product, support, among others, the statement said.

Prior to this round, Meesho had raised $125 million (Rs 910 crore) in August 2019, led by Facebook, DST Global, SAIF Partners, Sequoia Capital India, Shunwei Capital, among others. At that time, the startup valuation was around $700 million. To date, It has raised over $500 million in its funding rounds.

In February 2021, It was reported that Meesho is in talks to raise around $250 million from Softbank's Vision Fund at a valuation of around $1.6-$2 billion.

Founded in 2015 by IIT Delhi alumnus Sanjeev Barnwal and Vidit Aatrey, Fashnear Technologies Pvt. Ltd., which owns and operates Meesho, is an online social commerce-reselling platform that allows anyone to start an online business with zero investment.

The startup claims that it has delivered orders from 100,000 product suppliers to over 26,000 pin codes in more than 4,800 cities across the country. It aims to enable 100 million small businesses to digitize their business operations through its platform.

Commenting on the development, Vidit Aatrey, CEO of Meesho, said, “We are focused on expanding our vision — from helping aspiring women entrepreneurs to creating our platform as a single ecosystem that will enable all small businesses in India to succeed online. In the last year, we have seen tremendous growth across small businesses and entrepreneurs seeking to move their businesses online."

Munish Varma, Managing Partner, Softbank Investment Advisors, said, By using the power of artificial intelligence and machine learning, Meesho has created a platform for many small business owners to sell to the next cohort of internet users.  We look forward to being a part of this journey.”

Also Read: DealShare raises $3.4 million debt funding from InnoVen Capital

Sumer Juneja from SoftBank Investment Advisers said, “We have been closely tracking Meesho for the last 18 months and have been impressed by their growth, daily engagement metrics, focus on unit economics, and ability to create a strong team. He further said, 'We have been closely tracking Meesho for the last 18 months and have been impressed by its growth, daily engagement metrics, focus on unit economics, and ability to create a strong team.

Meesho counts Elevation Capital (formerly SAIF Partners), RPS Ventures, DST Partners, Shunwei Capital, Facebook, Prosus & Naspers, Venture Highway, Arun Sanin (former CEO of Vodafone Group Plc), Investopad, Y Combinator, Sequoia Capital India, and Rajul Garg (Co-founder of Sunstone Business School) as investors.

It competes with other social commerce startups such as DealShare, Glowroad, Shop101, Kiko Tv, among others.

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