Social commerce startup WMall secures Rs 64 Cr in Series B funding

WMall, the social commerce startup, has secured about Rs 64 crore in Series B round of funding from Chiratae Venture Partners (formerly IDG), SAIF Partners, and VH Capital.

The Bengaluru-based startup has issued 20 equity shares and 6,501 Series B Compulsorily Convertible Preference Shares (Series B CCPS) both at a price of Rs 98,185.04 per share to Chiratae, SAIF, and VH Capital, thus aggregating a total amount to Rs 640,264,645.84. 

In February 2019, WMall had closed a $2 million Series A round from Venture Highway and SAIF Partners. 

WMall was founded by Harmin Shah, Rishabh Verma and Anubhav Singh in 2018. It is a social community-based e-commerce platform where members create content around various products for enhancing the buying experience for other members.

The B2C platform aimed at new-to-internet women users in Tier-II and III cities. It primarily focusses on categories like kitchen, beauty, clothing, accessories, home decor, and beauty products. 

WMall sells products to consumers on social platforms like WhatsApp, YouTube, Facebook, and Telegram. The company also offers a social buying experience to users on its own Android app. 

Also Read: How Social Commerce is Driving Online Retail Revolution?

Burgeoning social commerce space

WMall’s latest funding round is the latest indicator of strong investor interest in the social commerce segment, as more companies cater to niche audiences and middle- and lower-income segments from non-metropolitan cities.

Earlier this month, Accel India and the China-based Shunwei Capital jointly led a Rs 43.49 crore Series A round in SimSim, a video commerce app founded by former Paytm, McKinsey and Foodpanda executives. This investment marked Shunwei’s second in a social commerce platform. In November 2018, it took part in a $50 million Series C funding round in the Bengaluru- and California-based Meesho.

In August 2019, Meesho had secured $125 million in a round led by South African tech conglomerate and investor Naspers. The round has also seen participation from its existing investors Facebook, SAIF, Sequoia, Shunwei Capital, RPS, and Venture Highway, along with former Vodafone Group CEO Sir Arun Sarin. In June, Facebook invested in Meesho five years after first acquiring an Indian startup, Little Eye Labs.

Last month, at least two social commerce startups received funding. HappyShappy got seed funding from a clutch of high-profile investors like Beerud Sheth, Samuel Choi, Shivashish Chatterjee and Yuvraja C Singh.

Also Read: Social commerce clicks with new age buyers