POPxo, a women-centric digital media platform has today raised $3.1 million in a round led by Kalaari Capital and IDG Ventures. This round also saw participation from GREE Ventures Japan, Phillippines-based Summit Media, Gurmeet Singh, and Atul Goel. This adds to the company’s already flooding coffers, coming on the heels of a fresh $2.7 million Series B investment, the last month.
With the latest funds, POPxo will flag off an affiliate e-commerce program across categories to generate transactions. This lines with the plans discussed during its last funding round. POPxo had then declared that it’ll focus on monetization through brand integration over subscriptions since the latter doesn’t work well in India. It is presently focusing on breaking even by the end of 2017.
Speaking of the current round, Priyanka Gill, Co-Founder POPxo said,
We focus on leveraging our large user base to generate transactions—beginning with affiliate e-commerce across categories. This fundraise will help us deliver on the faith our audience, brand partners, and investors have shown in POPxo.
Founded in March 2014 by Priyanka Gill and Namrata Bostrom, the company claims to have millions of readers on a monthly basis on its website. The targeted audience of POPxo is females aged 18 and 34, who’re interested in subjects such as fashion, beauty, and lifestyle. Considering its large female readership, this new funding act as an opportunity to further serve the consumers.
This is the first-ever investment by Phillippines-based Summit Media in India. The consumer magazine publisher feels that coupled with trends, which point to advertising moving to digital media, as well as explosive e-commerce growth in India, the investment is expected to bode well for the company.
POPxo’s influence over e-commerce growth and its push towards digital media is apparent through its bulk of partnerships. These include brands such as Nike, Whisper, Tanishq, Motorola, TrulyMadly, Lakme, Chumbak, TIGI BedHead, Wills Lifestyle, Caratlane, Westside, Vero Moda, and Van Heusen to name a few. It is also supported by well-known angel investors such as Google India Head Rajan Anandan and CaratLane.com’s Mithun Sacheti.
Talking about their interest in POPxo, Vani Kola, Managing Director, Kalaari Capital said,
Young women in India are embracing the POPxo model that combines a digital community with content that empowers them. I am proud to see the progress made by the POPxo team as it has emerged as a leading company serving this market. Their new funding is a endorsement of the large opportunity to serve Indian women consumers.
POPxo provides a platform to young and opinionated Indian women to voice their views over a woman’s lifestyle and their strata in the Indian society. The virtuous power of engagement is POPxo’s competitive advantage.
