Medilytix Bureau:
Social e-commerce start-up DealShare has become the latest entrant to the coveted unicorn club as the company raised $165 million in a Series E funding round at a valuation of over $1.6 billion.
“The company welcomed Dragoneer Investments Group, Kora Capital and Unilever Ventures, along with continued commitments from existing investors Tiger Global and Alpha Wave Global (Falcon Edge),” DealShare said in a release.
The funds raised in the latest funding round will be utilised to invest in technology and data science, a ten-fold expansion in logistics infrastructure and increasing geographic reach. In addition, it will establish a sizable offline store franchise network, the company said.
DealShare said its consumer and revenue base has been growing strongly, and it expects to hit $1 billion revenue in the near term.
Founded by Vineet Rao, Sourjyendu Medda, Sankar Bora, and Rajat Shikhar in 2018, DealShare provides a curated assortment at “highly competitive prices”. The company says it has built an innovative community leader driven ultra-low-cost delivery mechanism, collectively leading to best-in-class unit economics.
DealShare has partnered with over 1,000 local and regional brands and sources its products directly from the manufacturers.
Rao said the company’s revenue and customer base have grown 13 times in the last year with improving profitability. With a customer base of over 1 crore, it has expanded its geographical presence to over 100 cities across 10 states. Besides, the company has created job opportunities for over 5,000 persons across the country, he claimed.