Matrix-backed GoKwik raises $35M in Series B

• The company plans to use the funds to work on technology solutions for large marketplaces, omni-channel players, and continue deeper penetration in direct-to-consumer brands
• GoKwik is aiming to significantly scale its India operations, with additional key hires focusing on engineering, data sciences (AI and ML capabilities). Committed to remote-first approach to team building, it plans to hire 200+ people across India by end of 2022

Bengaluru, May 11, 2022: eCommerce enablement company GoKwik, which helps brands to democratise the shopping experience for consumers, has raised $35M in a Series B round led by Think Investments. The round also saw participation from existing investors Sequoia Capital India, Matrix Partners India & RTP Global.

The new funding follows GoKwik's $15M Series A round in November 2021, bringing total funding in the last 12 months to more than $55M. Between the two rounds, GoKwik has shown phenomenal growth by delivering GMV realisations in excess of $1B for its merchants, serving more than 80 million customers on its network of brands, achieving over 3500% growth in revenue, and growing its team by 80% Q-o-Q, fully remotely. This has established GoKwik as one of the fastest-growing tech companies in India.

GoKwik is building an enablement stack to nurture the eCommerce sector that is flourishing with new-age D2C brands, social commerce platforms and marketplaces. To combat the complex challenges that are impacting the conversion rates at the pre and post order stage, GoKwik is creating innovative solutions by combining technology, data and UI/UX expertise to drive the overall profitability of e-commerce businesses. Being pandemic born and just 15 months old, GoKwik has helped more than 250+ brands by not only solving their many business challenges such as conversion rates, reducing RTO or improving GMV but also by providing a seamless checkout process to their consumers, thus improving their customer experience & retention potential. Marketplaces such as Snapdeal, Limeroad & Lenskart & D2C brands like boAt, Mamaearth, Crocs, The Man Company, Neeman's, The Souled Store, OZiva, Mochi, Plum Goodness, BeBodywise, Man Matters, Bombay Shaving Company, Faces Canada, DaMENSCH etc are already using GoKwik's technology to reduce cart abandonment losses, drive incremental sales, and enhance profitability.

GoKwik will utilise the newly obtained funds to broaden its eCommerce enablement stack and grow its network of brands, further optimise their conversion results, and also provide customised solutions. It is further committed to building an eCommerce sanctuary and plans to enable more payment options, increase the prepaid success rate and also ensure financing alternatives to help partner brands provide affordability to an aspiring "Bharat'. GoKwik is working closely with other eCommerce enablers and is striving to create a thriving eCommerce ecosystem for brands & consumers. To support its mission, GoKwik will also utilise the funds to hire new talent extensively across the tech, product, and data science domains.

On the fund raise Chirag Taneja, Co-founder & CEO, GoKwik said, "We are extremely proud of our record-breaking performance in 2021, and we expect this growth to continue as eCommerce adoption grows rapidly and is expected to become a $350B market in this decade. We have been able to improve conversion rates upto 50%, RTOs by upto 40% across the spectrum of merchants, across categories. As we expand our network of merchants, we will continue to democratise the shopping experience, we will keep bringing in upgraded solutions to help them realise incremental GMV.'

Elaborating further on the funding, Shashin Shah, Managing Partner, Think Investments said, "In a short span of time, GoKwik has grown very rapidly and now works with multiple marquee D2C brands and online marketplaces. Low conversion rate is a key pain point for most eCommerce merchants, and GoKwik's product offerings precisely solve that problem. We are excited to partner with the GoKwik team and strongly believe in their vision to enable merchants to offer the best shopping experience.'

"GoKwik is well on its way to revolutionising the eCommerce enablement ecosystem by unlocking the true revenue potential for consumer brands and making eCommerce platforms more efficient. The last year has seen the company not just grow rapidly but also build a world-class team. We're excited to double down on our investment and welcome Think Investments to the partnership!' commented Rajat Agarwal, Managing Director, Matrix India.

About GoKwik:
GoKwik was founded in 2020 with one simple mission, to democratise the shopping experience to increase GMV realisation for eCommerce businesses. The company is backed by Think Investments, Sequoia Capital India, Matrix Partners India, RTP Global, and marquee angels.

GoKwik is an eCommerce enablement company focusing predominantly on solving crucial eCommerce issues like boosting conversion rates across the eCommerce funnel and reducing RTO for our partners. It leverages AI/ML technologies to solve hard-hitting problems like RTO to increase CoD conversion rates. GoKwik's Kwik checkout improves checkout conversion rates ensuring higher GMV realisation and reduced marketing CAC.

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

About Think Investments:
Think Investments (Think) is a $3 billion investment firm headquartered in San Francisco with additional presence in Mumbai. Think invests globally in public and private companies with a multi-year time horizon. The firm specialises in backing technology-led early-stage businesses and partners with high quality management teams looking to build differentiated businesses. Think was founded in 2013 and has invested in 20+ private companies including Dream11, PharmEasy, FirstCry, Swiggy, Spinny, ConsenSys, Gupshup, National Stock Exchange and Star Health.

About Matrix Partners India:
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), LiquiLoans (P2P lending) and Jupiter (consumer neobank).

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), Country Delight (D2C dairy & fresh foods brand), Captain Fresh (seafood marketplace), Bijnis (B2B platform for factories), MoEngage (SaaS), Zupee (leading skill-based gaming app) and Oxyzo (a tech-enabled smart financing solution provider) 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.