Prachalit Infomedia Pvt Ltd, which founded
Shopwati, an Online Fashion Community has raised an undisclosed amount in a
seed round from Sanjiv Rai of SRKK Advisors.
The bootstrapped startup will use this round
to fund the next phase of technology development and reach out to customers and vendors in cities outside Delhi.
Shopwati is India’s First Fashion “E-Commerce
in Reverse” Portal, creating a unique platform for women shoppers and vendors
to explore fashion.
Built around conversations, the Shopwati
community helps its users find products, take a poll on what to buy and discover fashion.
Ankit Bajaj, Co-Founder and CEO, expresses his vision
for Shopwati: “We aim to build a strong community which helps each other make
better fashion choices. Unlike every other Fashion Discovery App, Shopwati is
not just about finding fashion inspiration, it aims to help people who want to
act on it”
What started as a group of close friends and
family, grew into a huge community, from discussing fashion finds across Delhi
to getting suggestions on what to wear and where to buy it from.
Today, Shopwati is a 50,000+ member strong
community, which comprises of Stylists, Bloggers, Private Labels, Designers,
Brands and 1000s of other users talking about fashion. They also recently
launched the preview of their Android App with 1000 invites that were exhausted
in 2 hours of the launch.
Mehak Suri Co-Founder and COO believes “Most of
the women know what they will wear for that wedding/event 2 months later, what
they don’t know is where to buy it from, and we see that as a huge opportunity.
On Shopwati 1000s of vendors respond back to queries of users looking for
clothes, makeup, accessories, footwear or gift ideas”
Shopwati today addresses over 300 queries
everyday and with a GMV of over Rs. 1.5 crore in less than 6 months, they are
doing more business than some of the biggest names in the fashion discovery
space. They claim that more than 95% queries get answered in 24 hours and the
conversion rate is over 35%”
To be on the platform, vendors have to pay an
Annual Subscription Fee since most of the transactions happen offline and
Shopwati takes no commission on the sales.
Akriti Garg, Chief Content Officer
adds “Our Shopwatis are women who are 23 and above. These women are settled,
opinionated and have a lot going on in their lives – marriage, social events,
professional events, etc. These women have little to no time and there was a gap
in the market wherein no one was catering to their styling and fashion needs.
This is where Shopwati steps in, we and the community give these women honest
opinions and our designers cater to their style and requirements at their
convenience without having to spend hours in a market.”
About Shopwati:
What’s it about?
Fashion
Discovery app Shopwati helps its users find clothes and accessories that they
are looking for with the help of a strong community which includes Vendors,
Bloggers, Stylists and Other Users.
Why is it different?
Shopwati
looks to leverage the power of lots of fashion-interested people in helping
individuals find the stylish clothes & accessories they are looking for.
Users can simply post what they are looking for and vendors, users and bloggers
help in finding the best deal.
Who’s it for?
It’s for fashion-loving
users who want to seek suggestions and in turn give advice to and from the
community.
Who’s Working on It?
Ankit
Bajaj, has worked with several organizations in various strategy roles in Delhi and London before Co-Founding India’s first SMS based search engine Ask
Birbal. Shopwati is his second inning in the Startup World. He is a Graduate
from the Brookes University, Oxford.
Mehak
Suri, has managed sales at brands like Taj, Oberoi, Radisson and Le-Meridian.
She is also a professional singer and has sung Bollywood songs with award
winning music composer Ankit Tiwari. She is an MBA from Infinity Business
School, Gurgaon
Where is
it? It is headquartered in Gurgaon. For More Information visit www.shopwati.com
About
Investors:
Sanjiv Rai
Started
in April 2008 by Sanjiv Rai, SRKK is a boutique investment company
that began with a motive of funding pre-revenue early stage companies. They
currently have 5 companies in their portfolio and have aggressive plans to
expand.
Mr. Sanjiv Rai is a former CEO and MD of Rapid MetroRail
Gurgaon and ILand FS Rail, with the IL and FS Group and is credited with
developing, financing and building the country's first fully privately financed
and owned Rapid Metro project in Gurgaon.
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