Naaptol, which as per my childhood memories is one of India’s oldest tele-commerce companies (and yes, tele-commerce is still a thing in India), is today announcing an additional fundraise of close to $51 Million fromJapanese conglomerate Mitsui & Co. This round is in addition to the $20 Million it raised earlier this year.
This latest financing is a significant step-up, as it will increase Mitsui & Co’s stake in Naaptol from 5% to 20%. Naaptol says, that the deal underlines “the intensity of Naaptol’s imminent growth” in the home shopping industry. That obviously needs facts for backing which haven’t been provided to us yet.
The company intends to use the funds for expanding its reach and building up an efficient supply chain. We would also upgrade our studio capabilities to churn out more & more content in multiple languages every day and invest in technology.
Naaptol claims to be reaching 160 million TV households in India on a daily basis. The company plays over 350 hours of commercials every day in multiple languages. It facilitates sales of a gamut of products from a wide range of categories like electronics, apparel, jewellery to home and lifestyle products.
Incidentally, Naaptol is the only independent multi-channel shopping company in India that has presence across leading channels of television, internet, print & mobile.
The company was founded in 2008 by Manu Agarwal. Till now, the company had raised a decent $75 million in four funding rounds from five different investors.
