[Funding alert] CityMall raises $22.5M in Series B round led by General Catalyst and Jungle Ventures

CityMall, a social commerce startup focused on Tier II and beyond locations in India, has raised $22.5 million in Series B round of funding led by General Catalyst and Jungle Ventures, with participation from existing investors Accel, Elevation Capital, and WaterBridge Ventures.

The latest funding round takes the total capital raised by the startup to $36.5 million. Founded in 2019, the social commerce startup plans to use the fresh fund towards hiring, technology, and building its own logistics network, including warehouses and hubs.

CityMall also plans to strengthen its presence in the existing 40 towns and aims to expand this number to 100 in the coming months.

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Founded in 2019 by Angad Kikla and Naisheel Verdhan, CityMall also provides income opportunities to a network of micro-entrepreneurs called community leaders.

Angad Kikla said, “Internet has transformed the lives of consumers living in large metro cities. However, for low to mid-income users in small, the towns use of internet is limited to content and social. We are building CityMall with a vision to transform their experience with the internet - by providing them with access to earning opportunities as well as affordable products and services.”

The platform allows micro-entrepreneurs to open their virtual stores and aggregate demand. It has also expanded products available on its portfolio from groceries and FMCG products into fashion, electronics, electrical appliances, cosmetics, etc.

Through its community group buying model, the startup has been able to disrupt two biggest cost items for traditional ecommerce platforms - customer acquisition cost and logistics cost.

Naisheel Verdhan, Co-founder, Citymall, said,

“Our vision is to build a decentralised ecommerce ecosystem for the next 200-300 million Internet users living in small towns and villages.”

Commenting on the fundraise, Alex Tran, Partner, General Catalyst, said, “As internet penetration reaches beyond metros and into smaller cities and communities, new and innovative social commerce models like CityMall have the potential to offer consumers better buying experiences.”