Missing Home And Its Flavors? This Startup Is Set To Take Care Of That! Driven by back-to-roots philosophy, this eCommerce marketplace focuses on requirements of over 17 Diasporas communities living in big India and abroad.

It is often seen that in the search of an opportunity that can change their life, people usually walk towards metro cities or head aboard from their hometown, to make their career and work towards achieving their goals in life. And in doing so, they leave behind a lot of things, which at times they miss.

If we study the migration trends among Indian citizens, it is seen that most people move to fast-growing cities like Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Chennai, Delhi, Kolkata, and Mumbai – either due to employment opportunities, education, or marriage. This gap demonstrates that migration creates a void in people's lives.

Identifying this market gap led by people migrating within India and abroad, made Vishwa Vijay Singh, Purba Kalita, and Pramod Rao launch Salebhai.com.

It is an eCommerce marketplace that enables people living away from home to order a range of specialties directly from their hometowns. People can pick from a wide variety of delicious consumable items like sweets, namkeen, chocolates, bakery, spices, dry fruits, beverages, and pickles. Startup also offers other products such as handicrafts, paintings, puja items, handloom goods, and herbal and wellness items.

It can also be said as one-stop solution for those who want to discover regional products from across India.

"Salebhai.com caters specifically to the burgeoning Diasporas in India and abroad. It operates on a back-to-roots philosophy and currently meets the requirements of 17 Diaspora communities by sourcing authentic and unique products from their native places," said Vishwa Vijay Singh, Co-founder, Salebhai.com.

Founded on September 15, 2015, this eCcommerce marketplace focuses on requirements of these communities, living in big Indian cities, as well as, those who live abroad. With products sourced from over 100 cities and 250 select vendors, the company provides people with an opportunity to buy products in various categories from sellers across India.

Funds Rolling In

Recently, this startup has received a major boost from Brand Capital of Times Group. With this, the media conglomerate has come onboard with a deal size of INR 10 crore for a minority stake in the company.

Commenting on the funding, Singh, said, "Investors certainly see the huge opportunity in solving a burgeoning problem through an integrated platform and its range of curated products. Increasing movement of talent will only keep growing this opportunity for Salebhai.com. The partnership with Brand Capital will help us expand our footprint and acquire more customers."

The startup, which was in the news earlier this year for receiving investment from 12 high-Networth customers, is now reportedly ready to welcome its second batch of customers-turned-investors.

Meet the brains behind this startup

The company has a strong team which consists of professionals with proven expertise in IT, marketing, content development, innovation, disruptive thinking, channel management, logistics, and customer support.

Apart from Vishwa Vijay Singh, who looks after the company's marketing and overall functioning, the company is also led by other enterprising co-founders, viz. Purba Kalita, who takes care of content and communications, and Pramod Rao, I.T. expert. Other key people within this company include Anand Varani, who handles finances, and Gopal Shukla for channel management.

Business mock-up

Before delivering any product to its consumer, Salebhai.com makes sure that it is delivered to the right customer. "Ours is a true marketplace. Once we decide on a product, we cherry-pick its top 3 sellers from the town. The prices displayed on our website are the same at which products are sold offline. There is complete information about sellers (history, lineage, reputation, growth, production capacity, specialties, certifications, awards, and practices) and products (usage, popularity, benefits, facts, place of origin, improvisations, etc)," said Singh.

Road ahead

So far, the company has 4,200 active users, out of which 22 per cent are repeat buyers. Its GMV is valued at Rs. 700,0000.

With close to 300 sellers and over 8000 products from over 100 cities, Salebhai.com hopes to Increase sales through web personalization and marketing automation in the next couple of years.

"With migration continuing to peak, our yearly market size is about Rs 30000 to Rs 35000 crore with the current categories of products. We hope to achieve Rs 1 Crore GMV by October this year and have around 400 unique sellers by December," said Singh.