[Funding alert] Meesho raises $300 M investment led by Softbank Vision Fund 2

Social commerce platform, Meesho, has raised $300 million in new funding led by Softbank Vision Fund 2. With this investment, Meesho's valuation is at $2.1 billion. The round also saw participation from existing investors Prosus Ventures, Facebook, Shunwei Capital, Venture Highway, and Knollwood Investment.

With this funding, Meesho plans to build a single digital ecosystem for 100 million small businesses, and hire the best talent in the industry. 

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Commenting on the fund raise, Vidit Aatrey, co-founder and CEO of Meesho, said in a press statement shared by the company, “We are focused on expanding our vision — from helping aspiring women entrepreneurs to creating Meesho as a single ecosystem that will enable all small businesses in India to succeed online. In the last one year, we have seen tremendous growth across small businesses and entrepreneurs seeking to move their businesses online. And with our new vision, we will enable 100 million small businesses to start, succeed and lead their operations online with Meesho as their partner in their journey.”

The small businesses Meesho is targeting include individual businesses owned and run by women entrepreneurs and homepreneurs who have become financially independent and successful over the years through Meesho, and have carved out their own identities. 

The new unicorn now aims to simplify ecommerce for all small businesses in India. The company stated it will help the company to build a platform which is pro-small businesses with policies and tools to help even the smallest of sellers to list and do business on Meesho.

Munish Varma, Managing Partner at SoftBank Investment Advisers, said, “Globally, SoftBank has always been excited to back founders that provide unique solutions for the local market. By using the power of artificial intelligence and machine learning, Meesho has created a platform for many small business owners to sell to the next cohort of internet users.  We look forward to being a part of this journey.”

Meesho will also use the new fund raise to strengthen its talent pool across verticals — tech, product, and business, among others. The startup states in the last six years it has enabled over 13 million individual entrepreneurs to start their own online business with no investment.

It stated that it has delivered orders from 100,000 registered suppliers to over 26,000 pin codes in more than 4,800 cities, generating over 500 crore in income for individual entrepreneurs and serving customers in more than 4,500 Tier II cities.

Sumer Juneja, Partner at SoftBank Investment Advisers, added: “We have been closely tracking Meesho for the last 18 months and have been impressed by its growth, daily engagement metrics, focus on unit economics and ability to create a strong team. We believe Meesho provides an efficient platform for SME suppliers and social resellers to onboard the ecommerce revolution in India and help them provide personalised experience to consumers.”