Matrix and Falcon Edge lead $11 Mn round in social commerce startup DealShare

Group buying had gained popularity globally because of Groupon. While the champion of original social commerce concept doesn't exist anymore, Chinese social commerce sensation Pinduoduo has disrupted social commerce space. 

Toying the lines of Pinduoduo, several social commerce startups in India with local innovations have jumped to include several hundred million non-English speaking populations. Investors are also convinced about the new format of e-commerce as DST, Facebook Sequoia, Lightspeed, Matrix and Kalaari already placed their bets in social commerce.

Doubling down its investment in the space, Matrix has co-invested $11 million in a Series A round with Falcon Edge in DealShare. Currently, the firm focuses on Rajasthan, Gujarat and soon expanding to Maharashtra. DealShare deals in categories such as food, grocery, fruits, vegetables, dry fruits, FMCG products.

The company claims to source directly from local manufacturers and offers special discounts when customers go for group buying. It claims to serve over 3 lakh customers in two states. According to a blogpost by Matrix, the raised capital will be utilised for geographic expansion, growing logistics network and develop technological capabilities.

Social commerce space has been attracting unprecedented affections from top tier VCs and angel investors. Several companies in the segment got a significant amount in the seed round even before their launch. For example, BulBul Shop, EkAnek, and SimSim quickly scooped up investments.

WMall has raised $7 million in fresh financing round from Chiratae, SAIF Partners and Venture Highway. Entrackr had exclusively reported about the transaction in September. Besides staggering three digits round raised by Meesho, GlowRoad and Shop101 also raised $22.5 and $15 million.

While social commerce startups have been creating a considerable buzz since the beginning of this year, the segment is becoming overcrowded and may see consolidation soon. Making people transact from the vernacular audience isn’t that easy, but the startups mentioned above believe they can do so. 

Going forward, it would be interesting to see how social commerce space scales up and support the fledgeling e-commerce segment at large.