Assisted e-commerce startup ShopX, which partners with retailers and kirana store owners in smaller towns, has bagged Rs 12.99 crore from existing investor Nandan Nilekani--a former UIDAI chairman and Infosys co-founder.
ShopX has so far raised a total of Rs 122 crore in previous rounds. Nilekani first infusion was Rs 3 crore in April 2015.
Currently, the Bengaluru-based e-commerce enabler has over 45,000 retailers in 280 towns across ten states and has more than 50,000 physical transactions on daily basis. Since its inception in May 2015, it claims to serve more than eight million customers.
On the basis of in-house parameters, ShopX pre-selects retailers by charging a non-refundable fee of Rs 1,000 to use the application. It helps neighborhood retailers in tier II cities can expand their product offerings.
Founded by Amit Sharma and Apoorva Jois, ShopX claims to enable retailers to earn 30 to 40 per cent more than the traditional retail model.
The company offers a wide range of products in categories such as FMCG, mobile phones, and accessories. It also offers digital services including mobile and DTH recharge, bus/flight booking, and utility bill payments.
It facilitates credit options to potential retailers through ShopX SUVIDHA. Besides ShopX, other firms that operate in the B2B commerce space include StoreKing, and Snapbizz.
Apart from this, Nilekani has been among the noted angel investors in the ecosystem with having personal investments in companies such as TeamIndus, RailYatri (co-investment with Helion), angel investment platform LetsVenture, Sedemac, and Power2SME.
Last year, Nilekani clubbed with Helion Venture’s co-founder Sanjeev Aggarwal launched an investment fund Fundamentum with an initial corpus of $100 million to back growth stage (Series B and Series C) startups. The fund recently invested $12 million Series C round in holiday travel marketplace TravelTriangle.
The development was reported by Paper.vc.