Exclusive: WMall founders return with ShopDeck, raise $8 Mn

Blitzscale Technology, the parent of company WMall and ShopDeck, has raised Rs 65.2 crore (approximately $7.85 million) in a new round. The fresh investment came for the firm after a hiatus of five years.

The board at Blitzscale has passed a special resolution to issue 4,385 CCPS (compulsorily convertible preference shares) at an issue price of Rs  1,48,672 each to raise Rs 65.2 crore, its regulatory filing accessed from the Registrar of Companies (RoC)shows.

Bessemer Venture has led the round with Rs 35.24 crore while Chiratae Ventures and Elevation Capital pumped in Rs 9 crore and Rs 11 crore, respectively. VH Capital and Reed India cumulatively participated with Rs 9.85 crore in the extended Series B round (B1).

ShopDeck will use this amount for growth, expansion, marketing, and general corporate purposes, the filing further added.

ShopDeck helps sellers to create their e-commerce store or website, manage logistics, payment and others for a business to sell products online. It competes with Shopify, Magento and WooCommerce in e-commerce enablement space while Shiprocket and Shipway are its competitors in shipping and marketing segments.

Following the fresh proceeds, Elevation Capital is the largest external stakeholder with 19.3% followed by Chiratae Ventures with 16.34%. Co-founders Harmin Shah and Rishabh Verma collectively hold 43% stake in the company.

According to the startup data intelligence platform TheKredible, the firm has been valued at around Rs 426 crore or $50 million (post-allotment).

For background, WMall used to be a social commerce platform with flavors of video or live commerce and raised $11 million. However, it later pivoted to NuShop in mid 2022 which now became ShopDeck.

Entrackr exclusively reported about the pivot in June 2022.

ShopDeck is also one of the rarest startups where existing investors have put in money even after a pivot, that too after a gap of five years.

Blitzscale Technology ended FY23 with Rs 19.4 crore revenue and Rs 9 crore loss. Importantly, shipping and marketing services formed over 93% of its total collection in the said fiscal year. Revenue from enabling e-commerce stores stood at Rs 1.31 crore which was 6.7% of total operating income. The company is yet to file its annual results for FY24.