After COVID 19 caused businesses around the world to shut down to curb the spread of infection, many SMB owners struggled to make ends meet. While tech giants like Amazon and Flipkart prospered, due to a rise in online orders, offline retailers were left to find a solution to fend for themselves. In the midst of this chaos, an offline to online commerce startup-DotPe appeared, and its solution has been so widely adopted that within 1 year of its operation, it has managed to secure $27.5Mn in Series A funding.
Though the round was led by DotPe’s existing investor PayU, it also saw a new investor enter its rank in the tech-giant Google. Additionally, the firm’s earlier investor Info edge Ventures also participated in the round. Moreover, the round was of significant importance as it makes DotPe the first Indian offline-to-online commerce platform to secure this amount of funding within a year of being established.
DotPe was found amid the Covid-19 pandemic by Shailaz Nag (former PayU founder) , Gyanesh Shrama and Anurag Gupta. The company was started with the aim to help SMBs, specially restaurants and other food joints to bring their business online as offline stores had to be shut down.
With DotPe, customers can scan a QR code at a restaurant or store to see their entire catalogue, and even place orders and pay directly within the portal. This eliminates the need for personal contact with menus and waiters, and ensures social distancing. However, if you are not someone who goes out very often and wants to minimize ordering time, you can also place your order directly on the company’s /store’s business account on WhatsApp.
“In the last 12 months, more than five million Indian consumers have switched to the hassle-free way of ordering and buying from DotPe’s merchants using its platform. More than 38% of orders daily are now through repeat consumers,” the firm has said.
This fresh scoop of funds will be used by the firm to expand its market base, improve its products, and make use of better technology to meet the ever-growing market demand. Over the six months since its launch, the Gurgaon based firm has helped 5 million merchants to open their Digital showroom and integrated over 10,000 restaurants and food courts.
“We are thrilled to see our existing investors, PayU and Info Edge Ventures, backing our vision and doubling down on their funding as new business horizons open up. We are pleased to add Google, an innovation leader, as an investor,” said Shailaz Nag when asked about the round. On the other hand, Google India’s Country head, Sanjay Gupta has said, “In the last few months, we’ve seen an acceleration in offline players seeking to move their businesses online. We’re pleased to back young companies like DotPe that are supporting India’s digital transformation by connecting consumers and merchants through helpful, innovative tools. This investment under Google for India digitization fund underlines our belief in working with India’s start-up ecosystem towards the goal of building a more inclusive digital economy that will benefit everyone.”
