Khatabook shuts down its e-comm enablement product MyStore

Digital bookkeeping app Khatabook is shutting down MyStore, its e-commerce enablement product. Besides bookkeeping, the app was one of the core products of the Sequoia-backed company and had even raised funds to expand it.

“Thank you for being a part of the MyStore journey. We are planning on discontinuing the MyStore App. Your MyStore App won’t work from 15 November 2021,” said the company in a blog post. The company has also asked its users to download their invoices by sharing order invoices before uninstalling the app.

According to the company, it will continue operations of Biz Analyst for business intelligence and business management, Pagarkhata for staff and salary management needs and Cashbook for cash handling and tracking. Biz Analyst was acquired by Khatabook in March this year in a $10 million equity and cash deal. 

“...we are consolidating our product offering portfolio, and this decision is part of our strategic growth plan,” a spokesperson from Khatabook said in a response to Entrackr queries.

It’s worth mentioning that Khatabook had a legal fight with its rival Dukaan over plagiarism starting in August last year. After a three-four months-long battle, Khatabook changed the name of the application from ‘Dukaan by Khatabook’ to ‘MyStore by Khatabook’, though it did stay with the tagline ”Create Your Online Dukaan in 15 Seconds” on the play Store. 

Apart from Dukaan, Khatabook's MyStore used to compete with the likes of Dot, OkCredit and Bikayi in the e-commerce enablement space. Earlier in March, Dot had raised $23.4 million in its Series B round led by the global payment gateway giant PayU which also saw participation from Google and InfoEdge. 

Dukaan and Hyderabad-based Bikayi had also raised $11 million and $10.8 million in their new round respectively.

The MyStore move is surprising as the company sounded bullish and optimistic about MyStore at the time of launch. On the other hand, it could be a good decision if the product didn’t see notable traction and the decision would help Khatabook to focus on its core offerings: bookkeeping, attendance and payroll management among others.

During the last fundraise, Khatabook claimed it experienced a 150% year-on-year growth in FY21 and had more than 10 million monthly active users. The company was a pre-revenue making company until FY20. According to Fintrackr, Khatabook had recorded a total expenditure of Rs 127 crore for the fiscal year ended on March 31, 2020, without any operating revenue. The company has raised around $190 million to date and is currently valued at $600 million.

On the lines of Khatabook, its arch-rival OKCredit had launched a similar product called OkShop. According to Entrackr’s sources, OKCredit’s e-commerce enablement product hasn’t been doing well. The bookkeeping segment has seen strong investor interest on the back of the over 60 million SME’s operating in India. User interface and design, besides an adaptive framework that enables better cash flow management has been key to ringing in users so far.