GoKwik raises INR 40 cr in Pre-Series A led by Matrix Partners India

~ International VC firm RTP Global along with marquee angel investors also participated in this round
~ With new funds, GoKwik plans to go international and establish a presence in MENA and SEA region, and double down on talent across technology, data, and product engineering teams with a remote-first approach
~ Powering an annualized GMV of $155M and leading to a growth of 1 million monthly transactions

7th September, 2021. New Delhi: GoKwik - an e-commerce enablement company, on a mission to democratize the shopping experience and increase GMV realization for e-commerce businesses, has raised INR 40 cr ($5.5M) in a pre-series A investment round led by Matrix Partners India. This round also saw the participation of global investor RTP Global.

Marquee angel investors and serial entrepreneurs like Asish Mohapatra - Co-Founder & CEO of OfBusiness, Amit Lakhotia - Founder at Park+, Jitendra Gupta - Founder & CEO of Jupiter, Nitin Gupta '“ Co-founder of Uni, Utsav Somani - Partner at AngelList India, Pradeep Parameswaran - President, Mobility, the Asia Pacific at Uber, Manish Vij - Co-Founder of Smile Group, Arjun Vaidya - Ventures Lead, India at Verlinvest, Ramakant Sharma - Founder, LivSpace, Siddharth Puri - Co-Founder & CEO, Tyroo, Umang Kumar - Co-Founder, CarDekho, Anupam Mittal - Founder & CEO, Shaadi.com and other leading industry figures have also participated in the round.

Founded in the post-pandemic era, GoKwik is the brainchild of Chirag Taneja (CEO) and includes Vivek Bajpai (CTO), and Ankush Talwar (Chief Data Scientist) as part of the founding team. GoKwik believes in a '˜Merchant-First' philosophy and uses AI/ML technologies to solve hard-hitting problems like Return to Origin (RTO), better Cash on Delivery (CoD) conversion rates for e-commerce players including D2C brands. GoKwik's checkout and UPI solutions help improve checkout conversion rates ensuring higher GMV realization, increased profitability, reduced Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC), and increased delivery rates.

On the fundraising, Chirag Taneja, Co-founder & CEO, GoKwik said, "E-commerce enablement players will play a pivotal role in fuelling the burgeoning Indian e-retail market which is projected to touch $120 billion in next 4-5 years. GoKwik is poised to redraft the traditional playbook by offering personalized solutions to improve overall conversion rates, help register higher GMV with increased RoI and provide protection against risks such as RTO to e-commerce and D2C brands. We are very delighted to partner with all our new investors as they bring in a wealth of experience that will help us create a robust enablement ecosystem.'

75+ brands including digitally native brands, traditional players and marketplaces have put their trust in GoKwik leading to a million-plus monthly transactions, almost doubling every month. Many leading D2C brands like boAt, Mamaearth, The Man Company, Heads Up For Tails, The Moms Co., OZiva, TCNS Clothing Co. (W, Aurelia and Wishful), LimeRoad, ManMatters, Neemans, The Whole Truth, The Souled Store, EyeMyEye and more are already leveraging GoKwik's solutions to empower their online businesses to deliver a BEST-IN-CLASS experience to their customers.

On brand association, Varun Alagh, Co-founder of MamaEarth, said, "Conversion rates across the funnel and RTO are major pain points for any e-commerce business in India, and GoKwik is focusing on solving exactly these problems. With a razor-sharp focus on propelling D2C businesses, the GoKwik team shows a lot of promise with its advanced AI capability and a deep understanding of the e-commerce space.'

The new investment will primarily be used for scaling up & establishing a footprint in MENA and SEA regions and hiring talent across tech, data, and product engineering. Also, the platform is going to invest heavily in building many industry-first tech and data solutions to optimize the conversion funnel for online brands.

"India is seeing a surge of direct to customer brands and the share of non-marketplace, digital transactions for traditional as well as new-age brands is increasing rapidly. Some of this is driven by Covid but the trend is secular. This will create opportunities for companies such as GoKwik, to offer unique to India solutions that help merchants to sell more effectively online. This market timing combined with Chirag, Vivek and Ankush's deep and relevant experience to build such a company makes it a compelling investment for us. We're thrilled to be partnering with GoKwik on this journey of democratizing the e-commerce shopping experience!" Commented Rajat Agarwal, Managing Director, Matrix India.

Galina Chifina, Partner at RTP Global, added: "The e-commerce industry is rapidly expanding across the globe and enablement tools such as those provided by GoKwik must grow and thrive at the same pace, which is why we have placed our faith in Chirag and the team. Given the recent spate of funding announcements in D2C brands, GoGwik will prove pivotal in the Indian Growth Story - but also for e-commerce clients of its own across the globe, as it expands internationally. We are delighted to be on board and supporting the team with their growth.'

About GoKwik:
GoKwik was founded in 2020 with one simple mission, to democratize the shopping experience to increase GMV realization for e-commerce businesses. The company is backed by Matrix Partners India, RTP Global, and marquee angels.

GoKwik is an e-commerce enablement company focusing predominantly on boosting conversion rates across the e-commerce funnel. It uses AI/ML technologies to solve hard-hitting problems like RTO to solve CoD conversion rates. GoKwik's checkout and UPI solutions improve checkout conversion rates ensuring higher GMV realization and reduced marketing CAC.

It is helmed by Chirag Taneja (CEO), Vivek Bajpai (CTO), and Ankush Talwar (Chief Data Scientist). GoKwik's team has deep knowledge in the space of e-commerce with people having previous experience in Flipkart, Razorpay, Swiggy, Myntra, Nykaa and more. Link - www.gokwik.co

About RTP Global:
RTP Global is a venture capital firm focused on early-stage technology investments. It supports young companies with strategic know-how and a broad global network. RTP Global has invested in more than 100 companies founded in more than 10 countries across Europe, Asia and North America. Six early-stage investments became multi-billion public companies: Yandex, EPAM, Delivery Hero, RingCentral, Datadog and Ozon. RTP Global has offices in New York, London, and Bangalore.

About Matrix Partners India:
Matrix Partners India is an investment firm with approximately $1 billion under management. Founded in 2006, the firm invests in companies targeting the Indian consumer and enterprise market at the seed, early and early growth stages. Matrix India has invested in several market leading financial services companies, such as, Razorpay (payments and SME Neobank), OfBusiness (B2B Commerce, Fintech), Five Star Business Finance (SME lending), Mswipe (mobile POS), OneCard (mobile-first credit card), as well as category leading consumer-focused companies such as, Country Delight (D2C dairy & fresh foods brand), W For Woman (ready to wear fashion label), OZiva (India's leading clean, plant-based nutrition brand), Mosaic Wellness (lifestyle & wellness consumer brand), and The Whole Truth (clean label food brand).

Other marquee investments include Ola (mobility), Dailyhunt (mobile local language platform), Ola Electric (electric vehicles), Stanza Living (tech enabled student housing platform), DealShare (social commerce platform), and Zupee (leading skill-based gaming app) among others. Matrix India has advisory offices in Bangalore, Delhi and Mumbai. Matrix Partners has a global network of funds investing in the US, China and India, with approximately $5 billion under management. Further information is available at www.matrixpartners.in. To know more about our investment philosophy, check out the #MatrixMoments podcast series.