The usual route for students with a degree or post-graduation under their belt is to seek employment. However, bright and sharp students have branched out as entrepreneurs and made it good in life. Helping them along the way is the easy availability of venture capital and interest from angel investors. Once you do well, you can then hope to seek even more investment to expand your operations. This is what the DealShare story shows.
It would take a very bold person to venture into the eCommerce space dominated by goliaths like Amazon and Flipkart. However, a few do set off down this path and make it good. DealShare is a hyperlocal eCommerce startup. It gained traction and sought and obtained the next round of funding to the tune of $ 21 million to finance its plans to expand to more locations, source more products, and improve its technology to be more competitive.
DealShare operates out of Jaipur and Bangalore, and it has succeeded in raising $ 21M for its future plans. WestBridge Capital leads the funding, assisted by the involvement of Alpha Wave Incubation and independent investors. Falcon Edge Capital manages alpha Wave. The inflow of funds will help DealShare reach out to 100 cities and towns in India’s five more States. The customer base is expected to grow to one crore.
While Covid-19 may have slowed down businesses, it led to a boom in online sales, and DealShare benefited and some help from the government. The key areas of Mumbai and Jaipur had a high demand for home delivery services. Obviously, the first things needed were food, groceries, and medicines. Buoyed by the response and success, DealShare now thinks of making it a permanent feature not only for food and groceries but also for a host of other products across India’s landscape. Founder and CEO Vineet Rao is quite optimistic about the future, and his enthusiasm has garnered him a record-breaking investment deal, which, if done right, could pose a challenge to established players. DealShare success is due to different reasons, one of which is that they were successful in targeting mid-income people, especially those who are new to internet use.
There is a lesson to be learned from the DealShare story.
One, if you dare, you can become an entrepreneur. Success does not come easy, but you can earn a lot more than a 9 to 5 job.
Two, you need to be innovative. There are dozens of venture capital funds ready to invest, but you compete in a crowded segment if you launch a me-too startup. DealShare joined hands with manufacturers and sellers of products priced competitively. They innovated by targeting customers in the middle-income group in tier II, III, IV, and V cities. They believed more in adopting relationship-based business instead of the aseptic attitude of eCommerce giants. They dealt with locals in the local language. Their initial operations were based on Whatsapp before transitioning to eCommerce operations. You build a better and longer-lasting relationship when you show you care.
It is not surprising that DealShare has now succeeded in garnering about $ 34 million. Its revenues touch $ 45 million on a base capital investment of $ 7 million.
