Matrix-backed DealShare raises $165M

• DealShare announces the first close of its Series E funding from marquee investors Tiger Global, Alpha Wave Global, Dragoneer Investments Group, Kora Capital and Unilever Ventures as part of a wider financing round
• Annual Revenue Run Rate crosses $600M
• Total customer base at more than 10 million

Bengaluru, 29th January 2022: 3-year-old social e-commerce start-up DealShare today announced that it has raised $165M in the first close of its Series E fundraise. The company welcomed Dragoneer Investments Group, Kora Capital and Unilever Ventures, along with continued commitments from existing investors Tiger Global and Alpha Wave Global (Falcon Edge). Matrix Partners India which co-led the Seed and Series A rounds along with Falcon Edge continues to stay invested.

The company has been growing its consumer and revenue base strongly and expects to hit $1B revenues in the near term. The funds raised in this round will be utilized to invest in technology and data science, as well as a ten-fold expansion in its logistics infrastructure and will look to increase its geographic reach. In addition, it will establish a sizable offline store franchise network.

DealShare has built a new disruptive retail model for India focusing on affordability for mass consumers. It offers high-quality, low-priced essentials coupled with a gamified, fun-filled, and virality-driven shopping experience, making it easy for first-time internet users to experience online shopping.

Commenting on the latest funding round, Vineet Rao, Founder & CEO of DealShare, said: "DealShare is one of the fastest growing e-commerce companies in India. Our revenues and customer base have grown 13 times in the last year with improving profitability. With a strong customer base of over 10 million, we have expanded our geographical presence to over 100 cities across 10 states. Our company has created job opportunities for over 5,000 persons across the country.'

"We have created a network of over 1,000 community leaders under our flagship program DealShare Dost enabling an efficient and highly scalable supply chain. We will be utilizing the proceeds from the round to invest heavily into technology, improving the supply chain and expanding our footprint throughout the country. We will also invest in acquiring best-in-class technologies and marquee brands that are focused on the mass market', Rao added.

Griffin Schroeder, Partner, Tiger Global said "DealShare is growing rapidly and has built an impressive customer base with a strong leadership team executing on its innovative social commerce strategy. As it expands into Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities, DealShare is well positioned to power a new wave of e-commerce growth in India.'

Sharing his vision for the company's growth trajectory, Sourjyendu Medda, Founder, Chief Business Officer, DealShare, said: "We are witnessing very high growth in our business. This year, we will be expanding our presence to well over 200 cities across 20 states and are setting an audacious goal to increase our annual revenue run rate to $3B while becoming operationally profitable. We also aim to add close to 50 million new consumers in the next 12 months.'

"Our mission is to increase affordability and accessibility of high-quality products at low prices for mass consumers. We have created a unique network of more than 1000 small and medium manufacturers in the grocery and essential space which allow us to enable our mission. Majority of our consumers are first to e-commerce because of us. Not only are we spearheading e-commerce adoption in the country but we are also doing that with '˜Atmanirbhar Bharat' as the key focus.' Sourjyendu Medda added.

DealShare operates over 100 warehouses in the 10 states it operates in, and plans to expand its warehousing from 2 million square feet today to 20 million square feet over the next 12 months.

Navroz D. Udwadia, Co-Founder and Partner, Alpha Wave Global, added "We are pleased to invest in this round and continue our support of DealShare. DealShare delivers a compelling value proposition to its customers, who are value-conscious middle Indians in Tier 2 and 3 cities who crave local / regional products."

Tarun Davda, Managing Director, Matrix India remarked, "It has been a privilege to be early partners with Vineet, Medda and the entire DealShare team right from the seed-stage. DealShare has seen explosive growth over the past 12 months as more & more Tier 2/3 consumers embrace online grocery-shopping. We are excited about the next phase of the company's journey and wish them the best as they seek to transform the e-commerce landscape with their unique Made-For-Bharat business model.'

Founded by Vineet Rao, Sourjyendu Medda, Sankar Bora, and Rajat Shikhar in 2018, DealShare provides a sharp and curated assortment at highly competitive prices and has built an innovative community leader driven ultra-low-cost delivery mechanism collectively leading to best-in-class unit economics. DealShare has boosted its senior leadership by recruiting top industry leaders with deep experience in retail and consumer technology.

Avendus was the exclusive financial advisor to the transaction.

About DealShare:
DealShare is a disruptive e-commerce model built towards re-inventing e-retail for the next billion internet users. Currently, DealShare is present in 100+ cities across 10 states and it plans to expand to 200+ cities across 20 states in 2022. The company has acquired more than 10 million consumers and adds lacs of new consumers every month. DealShare caters to about 4 lakh orders daily. Since its inception, company's focus has been to procure products from local manufacturers and provide them with a platform to digitize their business and scale their local brands. At present, DealShare has partnered with over 1,000 local and regional brands and sources its products directly from the manufacturers. For more information, visit: https://www.dealshare.in

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 companies such as Ola (mobility), Dailyhunt (mobile local language platform), Razorpay (payments), OfBusiness (B2B Commerce, fintech), Five Star Business Finance (SME lending), Ola Electric (electric vehicles), Stanza Living (tech-enabled student housing platform), OneCard (mobile-first credit card), Country Delight (D2C dairy & fresh foods brand), GoKwik (e-commerce enablement platform), Captain Fresh (seafood marketplace), Bijnis (B2B platform for factories), MoEngage (intelligent marketing cloud platform), Mswipe (mobile POS), 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 & ideologies, check out the #MatrixMoments podcast series.