[Funding alert] CashKaro raises $10M in Series B round led by Korea Investment Partners
The Gurugram-based startup will use the funding for expansion, to grow its new social cashback app EarnKaro, and for talent acquisition.
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, a Gurugram-based cashback and coupons site, has secured $10 million in Series B funding round led by Korea Investment Partners (KIP) and existing investor, Kalaari Capital. The company had previously raised its Series A and angel round of funding from Kalaari Capital, Ratan Tata, and London-based angel investors.
KIP, which led the funding round, is a leading venture capital firm with over 30 years of investment experience, and over $3 billion worth of assets under management globally.
Rohan Bhargava, Co-founder, CashKaro, said:
“CashKaro has seen incredible growth over the last two years, while consistently reducing losses. We felt it was the right time to raise money and use it to tactically scale up marketing, open up new brand building avenues, user-acquisition, product development, and hiring new talent."
"Our new social cashback app EarnKaro was launched about a year ago and is seeing fast growth. We are all very excited to deploy more funds towards its expansion," he added.
CashKaro Founders (L-R): Rohan and Swati Bhargava
CashKaro also stepped into the world of social commerce in 2019 with its social cashback app, EarnKaro, which already has over one million registered resellers. The app is an easy way for students, housewives, and resellers to earn money. A lot of influencers are also using EarnKaro to monetise their product recommendations and networks. Users simply turn ecommerce links into EarnKaro links and then share them on their WhatsApp, Telegram, YouTube, and other social channels. When someone shops via this link, users earn profit in the form of real cash.
Speaking about the funding round, Swati Bhargava, Co-founder, CashKaro said,
“We are delighted to welcome KIP as our shareholder. Their experience in guiding businesses like ourselves to scale will be immensely valuable to us. Our business has emerged strong amidst the global turmoil caused by COVID-19, and this fundraise is a testament to the potential that performance marketing holds in India.”
CashKaro’s business model is that it is a marketing channel for 1500+ ecommerce sites like Amazon, , , Ajio, etc. Brands pay CashKaro commission for every transaction driven, and CashKaro passes a large portion of this as cashback to its members. This cashback can be redeemed as cash in a bank account or as Amazon/Flipkart gift vouchers.
“India is a growing market for us and CashKaro is a great way for us to participate in the Indian ecommerce industry. CashKaro and EarnKaro together have shown exceptional unit metrics and we are really excited to be a part of India’s affiliate story,” added Hudson Kyung-sik Ho, Managing Partner of KIP.
According to Rajesh Raju, Managing Director of Kalaari Capital, who also participated in the Series B round of funding, “CashKaro has grown more than 5x in the last 12 months, have been ROI focussed, and is a clear market leader today. We foresee some truly exciting times for CashKaro in the coming years.”
CashKaro and EarnKaro brands are operated by Pouring Pounds India Pvt Limited, which is a subsidiary of UK-based Pouring Pounds Ltd.
With five million users, today CashKaro claims to be witnessing over 10 lakh monthly transactions, and its members have so far earned over Rs 150 crore as cashback. The company has raised a total of $15 million till now from investors including Korea Investment Partners (KIP), Kalaari Capital, and Ratan Tata.
Edited by Megha Reddy
