Live-commerce Platform Shopr.TV Raises $1.7 Mn In Seed Capital The company will invest the funds into its technology, product, and team
Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.
You're reading Entrepreneur India, an international franchise of Entrepreneur Media.
Shopr.TV, an Indian live-commerce platform, has raised $1.7 million seed capital from several institutional investors, including BEENEXT, Y-Combinator, Locus Ventures, Shiprocket, Goodwater Capital and more.
Angel investors, such as Kunal Shah (CRED), Lalit Keshre (Groww), Venky Karnam (Afore Capital), amongst others, were also a part of the round. Shopr.TV will invest the funds into its technology, product, and team, said a statement.
Live-commerce is considered to be a revolutionary take on e-commerce, allowing the instant buying of a product or service via live video streaming. The trend has been steadily growing in India, accelerated by stark changes in online consumer behaviour since the onset of the pandemic. An established and growing concept in China, live-commerce offers a unique model for retailers and individual sellers to create direct, real-time communication channels with customers, and consecutively make sales.
Recent market research figures indicate that the Indian live-commerce industry is projected to be worth about $5 billion in gross merchandise value (GMV) by 2025. Shopr.TV was founded in 2021 by entrepreneurs Akhil Suhag, Akshay Suhag, Mukul Anand and Tushar Dhara to address Gen-Z's increasing appetite for live-commerce in India.
"Live-commerce is the natural next step in the evolution of e-commerce, and it has the potential to revolutionise the entire consumer experience. There is a refined layer of accessibility, credibility, and reliability that live-commerce brings to the online buyer-seller relationship. Our ambition is to create for India a shopping experience that's engaging, highly interactive, and veritable. We have the right product, the right team, an enthusiastic market, and now the perfect partners who share our vision of transforming the way India shops," said Akhil Suhag, Co-Founder and CEO, Shopr.TV.
Shopr.TV allows sellers and retailers to reach out to their desired consumer demographics with live drops, virtual pop-ups, collection launches, and clearance sales. By helping sellers establish a direct line of communication with their consumers and, aided by first-hand feedback; live-commerce helps sellers accelerate sales conversions and move large chunks of inventory in a rather short period of time.
"We believe the live-commerce model is entertaining, immersive, and poised to keep consumers engaged as a new form factor for commerce. Sellers can optimise sales in real-time through better inventory management while interacting with their customers directly. At BEENEXT, we are enthusiastic about the Shopr.TV founding team and how they weave the thread of customer decision journeys from awareness to purchase, with the finesse of their product experience. We are excited to be a part of Shopr.TV's journey to make the commerce experience more engaging while driving better conversion for sellers," said Hero Choudhary, Managing Partner, BEENEXT.