This ecommerce veteran raised funding for a new startup without a single user

When Devesh Rai was on-boarding merchants for Indian estore Shopclues, he realized that the wholesale segment controls almost the entire distribution in India. Yet there had been little innovation in the sector. So in April he quit Shopclues as its vice president of business development and launched Wydr, a wholesale estore. The site aggregates wholesalers in India, but is yet to start operations.

Today, Devesh announced that Wydr received angel funding from Shopclues and Droom founder Sandeep Aggarwal. The deal size remains undisclosed. He secured the funding with nothing more than a paper plan and his ecommerce track record.

“I have always believed that any business idea, no matter how novel, is only as strong as the people driving it,” says Sandeep. “Having known Devesh from my ShopClues days, had a positive influence on my decision. I am well aware of his pedigree, strong ecommerce experience, and deep understanding of the seller psyche in Indian retail.”

Devesh is a management grad from the Indian Institute of Management Calcutta. Before Shopclues, he was heading marketing and distribution at Mail Today Newspaper. He has also worked at HT Media, HCL Technologies, and Rediffusion.

Devesh says Wydr will help increase the speed of execution and transparency in the Indian wholesale market.

“We will integrate the real-world wholesale practices with the benefits offered by mobile technology. Some of the features will include real-time catalogue sharing, network building, deal discovery, order processing, and reach expansion through unique chat-enabled tools,” says Devesh.

The startup says it’s in talks to raise US$2 million in a fresh round.