Hopscotch, an online baby care products retailer, claiming to provide “insider access to today’s top baby and kids brands from around the world, at unbeatable prices”, has received a staggering $13 Million in a round led by Eduardo Saverin — first among the four guys who actually built Facebook out of a university dorm room.
With this massive capital influx from Saverin — who is already an existing investor in the company — Hopscotch plans on utilising it to further increase its customer base by introducing or adding more products and features.
Eduardo, who is based in Singapore, has been actively investing in technology startups in Southeast Asia and North America. Last year, he had invested around $11 million in Hopscotch, marking his debut as an investor in the Indian startup ecosystem. He has also participated in a $4 Million Series A round for startup news blog Tech In Asia.
Commenting about the investment, Eduardo Saverin said,
Hopscotch’s steadfast focus on this vision has paid off, resulting in an exponential growth of over 700% year on year. The market opportunity is massive and Hopscotch is still in its nascent stage. The team is frugal, cost conscious, and persistently focused on continuing to deliver strong unit economics while investing in scaling the business.
Founded in 2012, Hopscotch is a curated store featuring a variety of international and local branded merchandise for kids, mom and home. It is sourcing products from nearly 3,000 brands. The company counts Singapore-based Lion Rock Capital and individuals such as Nisaba Godrej, Diapers.com CTO Wei Yan and Annus as early investors.
Having expanded its technology team to more than 50 people in around nine months, the company is expecting to break even by the end of 2016 — which is great prospect, specially in the e-commerce sector, a segment which has been marred by speculations as to whether bigger Indian layers will at all, become profitable.
While the company does face competition from similar businesses likes of FirstCry and Babyoye, its business model is different from them. Firstcry and Babyoye follow the inventory and catalogue model to reach customers, while Hopscotch has a unique flash sales model.
Every day, the company launches new limited-time boutiques — a collection of some selected products sourced directly from brands. Boutiques last for a limited time and once sold, they are gone. Members receive a daily email revealing the latest boutiques.
Rahul Anand, founder of Hopscotch, said,
We are into highly differentiated lifestyle categories and not low-margin ones. While others indulge in price wars that evaporate profit, we are investing in technology that will help expand our consumer base.
