[Funding alert] OneCode raises $5M led by Sequoia’s Surge and Nexus Venture Partners

Bengaluru-based OneCode, a platform to digitise the sales ecosystem, on Thursday announced $5 million in funding led by Sequoia Capital India’s Surge and Nexus Venture Partners, with participation from WaterBridge Ventures. 

The funding of OneCode is also supported by angel investors Aakrit Vaish (Haptik), Amrish Rau (Pine Labs), Anand Chandrasekaran, Arjun Vaidya, Ashish Dave (Mirae Asset), Cloud Capital, Gaurav Munjal (Unacademy), Harshil Mathur (Razorpay), Jitendra Gupta (Jupiter Money), Kunal Shah, Lalit Keshre (Groww), Miten Sampat, Pravin Jadhav (Raise Financial Services), Rahul Mathur (Bimape), Sandeep Srinivas (Redcarpet), Sujeeth Kumar (Udaan), Sweta Rau, and Vivek Ananda (Bounce). 

OneCode connects a network of sales agents to a pool of potential customers who may not be as tech-savvy. The startup’s mission is to digitise 50 million sales agents across India, and bridge the gap between brands and potential buyers who may need in-person interactions and physical touch points before committing to a purchase.

“OneCode helps to provide brands with an outsourced sales army, which empowers people in Tier-II and Tier-III cities to become sales agents with a steady source of income. Even during these tough times, it’s heartening to see how we can still provide our sales agents with livelihood from the comfort of their own homes,” said Manish Shara, Co-founder of OneCode.   

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The platform works with a variety of financial institutions, such as banks, as well as discount brokers and credit card companies, like ICICI Bank, Axis Bank and RedCarpet. By using technology to mobilise this agent network, these companies are able to increase their distribution in Tier-II and III cities. On top of providing sales agents with access to relevant products and services, and the chance to earn money through these sales, OneCode also claims to give them visibility over their earnings on the app, where they can track how much they have earned, and how much is pending or owed to them.

Pratik Poddar, Principal, Nexus Venture Partners, added, 

"We believe that India is a unique market where you can create a lot of value by empowering distribution partners. Manish and Yash are solving a large problem for the 50 million agents and financial services institutions, and we are very excited to back the OneCode team." 

To ensure sales agents are equipped with the relevant skills and product knowledge to work independently across the country, OneCode also provides agents with comprehensive on-the-job training. Through interactive videos, sales agents can better understand how to sell, whom to sell to, and ways in which they can maximise their earnings. 

OneCode was founded in March 2019 by Manish Shara and Yash Desai. Manish is a computer science graduate from Rajasthan University who previously founded and sold two startups. Manish and Yash previously worked together at Dineout, a restaurant tech solutions company catering to individuals and businesses, where Manish led the product department and Yash, who has an MBA from San Francisco’s Hult International Business School, was a business head.

OneCode is part of Surge’s fifth cohort of 23 companies that have developed new digital solutions to help companies and individuals live, work and learn better in a rapidly evolving Southeast Asian landscape.