DotPe Secures $27.5 Mn In Series A Round From PayU, InfoEdge Ventures And Google The fresh funding will be deployed towards accelerating product development, market expansion, and scaling technology to meet the fast-growing market demand
By Prabhjeet Bhatla •
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Gurugram-based offline-to-online commerce platform, DotPe, announced on Friday that it has secured $27.5 million in Series A funding, making it the first O2O company in India to receive such a substantial amount within a year of launch. The round was led by its early investor, PayU, the payments, and fintech business of Prosus, resulting in an increase in the existing stake in the company. Info Edge Ventures has doubled down on its seed investment in the company made last year and more than doubled its shareholding. Google joins as a new investor.
The fresh funding will be deployed towards accelerating product development, market expansion, and scaling technology to meet the fast-growing market demand.
"We are thrilled to see our existing investors, PayU and Info Edge Ventures, backing our vision and doubling down on their funding as new business horizons open up. We are pleased to add Google, an innovation leader, as an investor. This new partnership will empower businesses (big or small) to be more discoverable, expand business avenues, and conduct commerce like never before. Pandemic or not, we are here to reimagine the way offline businesses work and bring the digital revolution to the doorstep of every entrepreneur," said ShailazNag, co-founder, DotPe.
Started by ex-PayU Founder Shailaz Nag with Gyanesh Sharma and Anurag Gupta in 2020, DotPe stands notably as the only Indian platform to have successfully digitized enterprise as well as SMB merchants through a full-stack solution- from giving them an online presence to enabling seamless ordering (in-store and remote), online payments and delivery.
On the enterprise side, it has deep integration with more than 10000 restaurants and food courts, including leading global and domestic F and B brands.
On the SMB front, its product digital showroom has on-boarded over 5 million merchants within 6months of launch in September 2020 with best-in-class retention and engagement. The product enables merchants to sell online by creating a digital storefront and accepting orders through WhatsApp.
"In a very short time, DotPe has acquired a promising merchant base with its impeccable product experience and innovation. We have always believed in fostering innovation by working with such disruptive, early-stage startups. Under Shailaz's leadership, we believe DotPe is positioned for rapid expansion as it disrupts and transforms the offline to online segment. They also align seamlessly with PayU's vision of digitizing payments in India by enabling merchants of all sizes. We are excited to build on our initial investment and continue to support the company on its journey," remarked Anirban Mukherjee, chief executive officer, PayU India.
In the last 12 months, over 5 million Indian consumers have switched to the hassle-free way of ordering and buying from DotPe's merchants using its platform. Over 38 per cent of orders daily are now through repeat consumers.
"DotPe has seen rapid adoption by merchants across industries- enterprises and SMBs- within a year of launch. The product experience and merchant and consumer stickiness are best-in-class with many marquee brands now expanding use cases with them
and integrating even more deeply. Our significant follow-on investment attests to our belief in the team and the ecosystem play panning out. We see DotPe as integrated commerce and fintech platform that empowers merchants and enables them to control their digital presence, discoverability, commerce, payments, etc. to complete their offline-to-online journey and are excited about the possibilities ahead," commented Kitty Agarwal, Partner, Info Edge Ventures.
It recently raised $27.5 million from investors like Pay-U, Google, and InfoEdge Ventures, bringing their total funding to $ 35.5million.
"In the last few months, we've seen an acceleration in offline players seeking to move their businesses online. We're pleased to back young companies like DotPe that are supporting India's digital transformation by connecting consumers and merchants through helpful, innovative tools. This investment under Google for India digitization fund underlines our belief in working with India's start-up ecosystem towards the goal of building a more inclusive digital economy that will benefit everyone," added Sanjay Gupta, vice president, and country head, Google India.
