OneCode Raises $5 Mn Led By Sequoia Capital India's Surge And Nexus Venture Partners The company currently serves over 20 brands in India including four large banks, and 300,000 registered sales agents, to-date
By Prabhjeet Bhatla •
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Bengaluru-based OneCode, a platform to digitize the sales ecosystem, leveraging technology to mobilize sales agents across the country, on Thursday announced $5 million in funding led by Sequoia Capital India's Surge and Nexus Venture Partners, with participation from WaterBridge Ventures.
The funding of OneCode is also supported by angel investors Aakrit Vaish (Haptik), Amrish Rau (Pine Labs), Anand Chandrasekaran, Arjun Vaidya, Ashish Dave (Mirae Asset), Cloud Capital, Gaurav Munjal (Unacademy), Harshil Mathur (Razorpay), Jitendra Gupta (Jupiter Money), Kunal Shah, Lalit Keshre (Groww), Miten Sampat, Pravin Jadhav (Raise Financial Services), Rahul Mathur (Bimape), Sandeep Srinivas (Redcarpet), Sujeeth Kumar (Udaan), Sweta Rau, and Vivek Ananda (Bounce).
Founded by Manish Shara and Yash Desai, OneCode connects a network of trusted and accessible sales agents to a pool of potential customers who may not be as tech-savvy. The startup's mission is to digitize 50 million sales agents across India and bridge the gap between brands and potential buyers who may need in-person interactions and physical touchpoints before committing to a purchase.
The size of India's population and demographic distribution has often meant that up to 95% of businesses in the country rely on an agent network to raise awareness of a product, and get it in the hands of consumers. Additionally, many buyers often look for recommendations from someone close or familiar to them before making their purchase decision.
The platform works with a variety of financial institutions, such as banks, as well as discount brokers and credit cards companies, like ICICI Bank, Axis Bank and RedCarpet. By using technology to mobilize this agent network, these companies are able to increase their distribution in tier-II and III cities. On top of providing sales agents with access to relevant products and services, and the chance to earn money through these sales, OneCode also gives them visibility over their earnings on the app, where they can track how much they have earned and how much is pending or owed to them, the platform commented.
"OneCode helps to provide brands with an outsourced sales army, which empowers people in tier-II and tier-III cities to become sales agents with a steady source of income. Even during these tough times, it's heartening to see how we can still provide our sales agents with livelihood from the comfort of their own homes," shared Manish Shara, co-founder, OneCode.
"We believe that India is a unique market where you can create a lot of value by empowering distribution partners. Manish and Yash are solving a large problem for the 50 million agents and financial services institutions and we are very excited to back the OneCode team," added Pratik Poddar, principal, Nexus Venture Partners.
To ensure sales agents are best equipped with the relevant skills and product knowledge to work independently across the country, OneCode also provides agents with comprehensive on-the-job training. Through interactive videos, sales agents can better understand how to sell, whom to sell to, and ways in which they can maximize their earnings, the platform said.
