Glance to acquire social commerce startup Shop101
The acquisition of Shop101 gives Glance a strong entry point into mobile ecommerce, which is primarily influencer driven.
Glance, a content discovery platform and owner of video-platform Roposo, today announced it is acquiring full stack ecommerce platform Shop101 in an undisclosed value through a combination of cash and equity.
According to a statement, with Shop101, Glance and Roposo will have access to a ecommerce technology platform, a comprehensive supply chain infrastructure and the talent base required to build the celebrity and influencer driven commerce platform.
This will also immensely benefit Shop101’s suppliers who can leverage Glance’s 125 million+ daily active users to grow their businesses.
Speaking to YS, Piyush Shah, Co-Founder, InMobi Group, and President & COO, Glance, said, “Mobile shopping is going to change dramatically, and it is going to be led by content which is authentic and fun.”
The content creators and influencers on Glance and Roposo will provide the entry point into mobile commerce. Shop101 will deliver the enablement.
Glance has over 125 million daily active users while Roposo, which has seen over 100 million downloads, is used by close to 1.2 million content creators. Shop101 has 10 million resellers and 10,000 supplier partners with reach to over 2,000 locations in the country.
"As leaders in the mobile content space, both Glance and Roposo are disrupting the way users create, discover, and consume content, making them the preferred platforms for top celebrities and creators to connect with their audience. With the addition of Shop101, we aim to make these platforms the top shopping destinations for millions of users as well,” said Piyush, in the statement.
Shop101 was founded by Abhinav Jain, Aditya Gupta and Kalpak Chhajed in 2015 which employs around 300 professionals. It is backed by Vy Capital, Stellaris Venture Partners, Unilever Ventures and Kalaari Capital.
Shop101 Founder & CEO Abhinav Jain said, “With Glance and Roposo, Shop101 will now be part of a company that shares our goal of transforming the shopping experience for millions of consumers globally.”
This is the second acquisition by Glance after Roposo. The unicorn startup is backed by investors such as Google and Mithril Capital.
According to a recent report by consultancy firm Zinnov on the topic ‘What’s shaping India’s digital economy’, “The coming decade is expected to be even more transformational….Nascent paradigms of Interactive, Social, and Live commerce are expected to become mainstream, and we anticipate the confluence of content and commerce with collaboration across content, commerce, payments, and logistics players.”
According to Zinnov, with online shopping increasingly moving from search to discovery, ‘community platforms’ and ‘influencers’ have a massive opportunity to drive commerce. “This makes them a
powerful channel from discovery to the final stage of the purchase journey,” it noted.
Edited by Anju Narayanan