Indian ecommerce enabler nets $35m in series B money

India-based GoKwik, an ecommerce enablement company, has raised US$35 million in a series B round led by Think Investments and RTP Global. Existing investors Sequoia Capital India and Matrix Partners India also participated in the round.

(From left) GoKwik’s founders Ankush Talwar, Chirag Taneja, and Vivek Bajpai / Photo credit: GoKwik

The new capital brings GoKwik’s total funding in the past year to US$55 million. Earlier, it had raised a series A round in November 2021 and a pre-series A round two months prior.

The startup plans to use the new funds to further develop tech solutions for large marketplaces and omnichannel players, as well as to increase its reach in the direct-to-consumer sector. It also aims to hire over 200 employees across India by the end of 2022, focusing on growing its engineering and data science teams.

Founded in 2020 by Chirag Taneja, Ankush Talwar, and Vivek Bajpai, GoKwik focuses on solving ecommerce issues by using AI and machine learning to boost cash-on-delivery conversion rates and reduce order returns for its partners. This process increases gross merchandise value (GMV) and reduces marketing customer acquisition cost, the company said.

“We have been able to improve conversion rates up to 50%, reduce RTOs (return to origin) by up to 40% across the spectrum of merchants, across categories. As we expand our network of merchants, we will continue to democratize the shopping experience, we will keep bringing in upgraded solutions to help them realize incremental GMV,” said Taneja.

GoKwik has been focusing on further developing its team with seasoned hires, including ex-Home Credit head Joyeeta Ghosal as brand marketing director and former Amazon senior operations manager Pranav Merchant as head of operations.

The global ecommerce market reached US$13 trillion in 2021 with a compound annual growth rate of 27.4%, according to Research and Markets.

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