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E-commerce enabler KartRocket has raised $6 million in a round of funding led by Bertelsmann India Investments (BII), the investment arm of Bertelsmann in India.
Existing investors Nirvana Digital India Fund, Nirvana Digital Investment Holding Co Ltd, US-based 500 Start-Ups, and Singapore-based Beenext also participated in the fresh round of funding.
In 2013 KartRocket had raised their seed round from angel investors, 5Ideas Startup Superfuel and 500 Startups. Subsequently, in 2014, it secured its Series A funding from Nirvana Venture Advisors, 500 Startups and Beenos.
By enabling merchants to go online under their own brand, KartRocket currently caters to the SME market in India. The platform provides a Web and mobile site, payments and logistics capabilities, in-built marketing and promotion tools, as well as integrations with leading B2C marketplaces.
In September 2015, KartRocket launched “Kraftly” (), a mobile-first O2O marketplace that lets users buy and sell products from anywhere from their smartphones. It targets small sellers, individuals, and homepreneurs in India in categories such as apparel and accessories, amongst other products. The platform can be accessed via Web as well as both Android and iOS apps.
“The current ecosystem is not supportive of integrating smaller sellers into e-commerce. In fact they aim at replacing them rather than including them. Kraftly has a single vision of allowing every seller to participate in e-commerce. There are over 50 million homepreneurs and small sellers in India that currently do not have a medium for launching their sales online. By bringing such sellers online we are building the largest supply base of unique products for buyers to choose from. The fresh investment will help us with cutting-edge product development, talent acquisition, seller eco-system development, and performance marketing,” Saahil Goel, CEO & Co-founder of KartRocket, said in a statement.
"With a strong focus on seller enablement over the past three years, the KartRocket team has the best expertise in the country in launching a micro-seller platform. By giving the power of e-commerce back in the hands of the small seller, Kraftly has the potential to create an entirely new e-commerce ecosystem currently lacking in the Indian market. The recent growth in O2O commerce in countries such as China, Singapore, the US and Japan is further validation of this business opportunity," Pankaj Makkar, MD, Bertelsmann India Investments, added.
Currently boasting of more than 7,500 shops, Kraftly adds over 10,000 listings each day. Its vision is to create a ‘flea-commerce’ platform by bringing on board the long tail of individual and small sellers and allowing them to fairly participate in e-commerce.
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