The ecommerce craze may be cooling off, but the ecosystem is not. Startups that help build out stronger tech tools for ecommerce startups got some attention today. Not all is lost in the ecommerce world, though – a startup that sells eyewear online raised a whopping series D round.
Unbxd and TargetingMantra
The sheer size and diversity of India means that ecommerce sites have a lot of problems figuring their customers out. Two startups in that realm made interesting progress today.
The first was Unbxd, a startup that helps ecommerce sites build out their search and product recommendation tools. It raised a series B round of funding today from Nirvana Venture Advisors, IDG Ventures, Inventus Capital, and Indian Angel Network. This is its second round of funding after a series A of US$2 million in 2013.
It claims to handle around 200 million transactions a month, which is the sum total of both Flipkart and Snapdeal’s customer bases combined.
The second startup in that area to get some attention was TargetingMantra. It analyzes what ecommerce shoppers are looking for and sends them personalized emails. Snapdeal announced its acquisition of the startup today.
Together, the two represent an interesting strategy. Since so much money has already been poured into ecommerce companies, it’s important to build out an ecosystem of startups that support them. Last year, this was logistics and payments – this year it’s looking like data analytics and customer specialization.
Lenskart
Eyewear ecommerce site Lenskart raised US$60 million in series D funding that was led by World Bank’s investment arm, the International Finance Corporation. Two of its existing investors, TPG Growth and IDG Ventures, also participated in the round. It also got money – and a celebrity name – from Ratan Tata and Infosys’ Kris Gopalakrishnan.
Lenskart got to India a bit before the ecommerce boom, and sells everything from contact lenses to prescription glasses. It also sends people to customers’ houses to test vision and try on frames. Not many others have come up in the space, and the CEO Peyush Bansal said that it wants to be in 130 cities by the end of the month. It’s currently in 70.
Weballigator
SaaS is the new black. Today, Weballigator, a SaaS startup that provides cloud-based HR solutions to small and medium businesses (SMBs) raised US$375,000 from multiple angel investors.
Its offerings include tools that manage attendance, track performances, register leaves, and process payrolls.
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