Fashion ecommerce startup Voonik merges with Bangladesh-based ShopUp; spins out B2C business with Schoolay
Fashion startup Voonik has also spun out its B2C single-brand retail business and merged it with kids’ apparel manufacturer Schoolay.
Fashion ecommerce startup Voonik has merged its B2B business and technology platform with Bangladesh-based social commerce platform ShopUp, Co-founder Sujayath Ali told YourStory in a detailed response.
As part of the transaction, the entire team of Voonik will be absorbed by ShopUp, as well as co-founders Sujayath Ali and Navaneetha Krishnan will join the social commerce startup.
Founders of Voonik
Additionally, Voonik has also spun out its B2C single-brand retail business and merged it with kids’ apparel manufacturer Schoolay. With this, the Founder of Schoolay, Kiran Hiriyanna (who was earlier with Voonik), will head Voonik’s B2C platform in India.
The startup did not disclose the deal size, however, when asked how will Voonik’s technology add strategic value to the ShopUp ecosystem, Sujayath said,
“Voonik's tech platform is the best in the market and will be very valuable for ShopUp to provide superior customer experience at scale. Navaneeth and I have many years of experience in this sector and will be valuable co-founders. Voonik team has the best DNA for execution and will accelerate the expansion for ShopUp.”
Further, when asked as to why Voonik didn’t consider any Indian partners, Sujayath answered saying that, although Voonik did have opportunities from Indian companies, the team was more excited by the Bangladesh opportunity and ShopUp's potential.
Part of the first cohort of Surge, Sequoia Capital India’s accelerator programme, Bangladesh-based ShopUp is a social commerce platform that helps micro-entrepreneurs in Bangladesh set up and run their businesses on Facebook, which accounts for more than 80 percent of the country’s online commerce sector.
Founded by Afeef Zubaer Zaman, Siffat Sarwar, and Ataur Rahim Chowdhury, the ShopUp platform provides tools for sourcing, cataloguing, payments, shipping, and access to business loans. As of April last year, there were over 95,000 micro-entrepreneurs on the ShopUp platform, and over 5,000 more joining every week.
Incidentally, Voonik has raised funding across multiple investment rounds from Sequoia Capital India and others including Times Internet and Beenos Partners.
Founded in 2013 by Sujayath Ali and Navaneetha Krishna, Voonik allows users to shop and buy apparels from multiple stores and has raised more than $30 million in equity funding to date.
The startup also acquihired the likes of - virtual dressing room app Trialkart, personalised fashion curator Getsty, occasion wear brand Zohraa, salon and stylist platform Styl, as well as online silk store Picksilk, over the years.
(Edited by Suman Singh)
