[Funding alert] Instagram-focused commerce startup WINDO raises $500K in seed round

Bengaluru-based social commerce startup WINDO on Thursday raised $500,000 in a seed round led by Unicorn India Ventures. The round also saw participation from prominent angels like Meena Ganesh, CEO of Portea; Aravind Sanka, CEO of Rapido; Srinivas Anumolu of GrowthStory; and Vivek Bhargava, a digital media expert and Co-founder of ProfitWheel.

According to the official statement, WINDO plans to use the funds for product development and to enhance the customer experience while growing and aiming to achieve product-market fit, and to also launch outside India regions.

Founded in 2020, by second-time entrepreneurs and BITS Pilani alumni — Silus Reddy Chintapalli and Rakesh Vaddadi, WINDO is an Instagram commerce focused tech startup helping small businesses and solopreneurs capitalise on consumers flocking to Instagram. 

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Silus Reddy, Co-founder and CEO, WINDO, said,

“We want to act as a technology team for solopreneurs and small businesses and help them build their online store in under two minutes by helping them convert their Instagram page into an online store, all while keeping it affordable and flexible. We believe that anyone, anywhere should be able to start selling online easily and we are working towards the same.”

It aims to become a one-stop-shop where sellers can control everything from the WINDO app by enabling features such as centralised inventory, order management, pricing etc. The company is targeting an ARR of one million dollars in the next 12 months.

Bhaskar Majumdar, Managing Partner, Unicorn India Ventures, added,

“Instagram has emerged as the most powerful social tool for internet consumers. Shoppers spend hours on Instagram to discover trends and products matching their preferences. We expect social commerce with a focus on Instagram to become a highly attractive segment in the next two years. At Unicorn India Ventures, we have always backed high potential startups."

"Our portfolio performance is an indicator of the unusual bets that we have taken. We believe WINDO is also a unique proposition as they are enabling and unlocking the potential of ecommerce by enabling small businesses to discover newer markets and increase their revenues as currently, most of the small business list on large marketplaces where revenues have been trickling in if not falling. WINDO is a solid alternative for online first and D2C small and medium brands,” he said.