Social e-commerce startup Coutloot on Thursday said it has raised Rs 59 crore in the pre-series funding round, led by venture capital firm Ameba Capital.
SOSV, 9Unicorns and Astarc Ventures also participated in the round. Existing investor Venture Catalysts also took part in the funding round.
Coutloot plans to use the fund for launching more services for retailers such as working capital solutions, video-stories commerce features, scale-up B2B supply chain, and stepping up hiring activities across verticals, including in technology, marketing and leadership roles, the company said in a statement.
It is planning to raise further around Rs 180 crore.
"Most commerce still happens offline for various reasons, including low trust and bargain. Coutloot helps sellers and buyers with that power to decide the prices after a bargain on the chat. We are trying to create Coutloot as India''s Taobao, which is one of the fascinating e-commerce success stories around the world," Coutloot co-founder and CEO Jasmeet Thind said in the statement.
The company claims to have grown 11 times during the pandemic and has been growing at a compound annual growth rate of 300 per cent over the last three years.
Coutloot is looking to clock a platform GMV of Rs 1,000 crore in 2022 on the back of rising demand coming from smaller towns.
Founded in 2016, Coutloot is a platform that allows buyers and sellers to bargain while shopping. Sellers on the platform can list unbranded local market products across fashion, electronics, home decor, sports and other boxed categories that makeup 75 per cent of India's retail sector at present.
"Coutloot has best addressed the needs from the rising consumption of 500 million-plus tier 2, 3 Indian population, by converging online and offline retail.
“The incoming fast 4G mobile rollout in the country will land successes like what's happened in China, like Taobao, Tmall, and Pinduoduo or even Tiktok creating conversational social commerce supported in India's local languages," Ameba Capital managing partner Kevin Wang said.
Coutloot has on-boarded sellers from smaller towns like Nagaon in Assam, Basai near Gurugram, Korba in Chhattisgarh, Surat in Gujarat, and Ludhiana in Punjab.
