Google looking to invest $50mln in social commerce Meesho

Google has held discussions to invest over $50 million in Indian social commerce platform Meesho, according to a TechCrunch report

Indian social commerce platform Meesho is likely to get more than $50 million from Google, as it aims to build a single digital ecosystem for 100 million small businesses and hire the best talent in the industry, the media reported on Friday.

Meesho has enabled over 13 million individual entrepreneurs to start their own online businesses with zero investment, bringing the benefits of e-commerce to more than 45 million customers in the country.

According to a TechCrunch report, Google has held discussions to invest over $50 million in Indian social commerce startup Meesho.

Google, which has pledged to invest $10 billion in India, currently backs Indian startups like DailyHunt, Glance and others.

Meesho has Facebook, SoftBank, Sequoia Capital India, Y Combinator and others as its investors.

Nearly 80% of resellers on the platform are women. From the beginning, the startup has aimed to help women start their business without need for any capital. The startup, which like many other e-commerce firms was severely hit by the pandemic last year, has fully recovered and achieved an all-time peak growth in recent months.

In April this year, Meesho raised $300 million in a new round of funding led by SoftBank Vision Fund 2, taking its valuation to $2.1 billion.

We are focused on expanding our vision — from helping aspiring women entrepreneurs to creating Meesho as a single ecosystem that will enable all small businesses in India to succeed online, said Vidit Aatrey, Founder and CEO of Meesho.

The company had said it has delivered orders from more than 100,000 registered suppliers to over 26,000 pin codes in more than 4,800 cities, generating over 500 crore in income for individual entrepreneurs.