Jaipur-based grocery and essential focused social commerce startup DealShare, owned and operated by Merabo Labs Pvt Ltd, enters the coveted unicorn club in 2022 after raising $130 million in its Series E round.
Tiger Global has invested $39.1 million in the round, followed by Alpha Wave, Kora Investment, DF International Partners and Twenty-Nine Capital Partners, which put in $31.3 million, $27.4 million, $19.6 million and $11.7 million, respectively.
The fundraise values DealShare at $1.63 billion. Its valuation has ballooned over 3.6X within seven months. It was valued at $455 million during its Series D round in July 2021. With this round, the company has raised $313 million in total funding.
The company will be using the funds for its growth and expansion. During the fundraise in July last year, the company had said that it aims to have a presence in as many as 100 cities. DealShare had also announced that it would be increasing the number of warehouses from 20 in five states to 200 across ten states by the end of 2021.
Founded in 2018 by Vineet Rao, Sourjyendu Medda, Sankar Bora and Rajat Shikhar, DealShare offers grocery, essentials and home care products. The company targets middle- and lower-income groups through a community group buying model.
The platform enables users in tier 2 and lower cities to purchase products at competitive prices through a network of micro-entrepreneurs in their community in local languages. As of July 2021, the company claimed to have over 1,000 micro-entrepreneurs who place the group orders and help last-mile delivery.
The startup becomes the second social commerce unicorn in India after Meesho. Meesho, operated by FashNear Technologies Pvt Ltd, had joined the unicorn club in April last year after it raised $300 million led by SoftBank Vision Fund 2, which had then valued the company at $2.1 billion.
The company is now valued at $4.9 billion, and it is in talks with Google to raise more funds.
