The Indian e-commerce market is predicted to maintain its upward trend and reach $299.01 billion by 2029, with a compound annual growth rate of 21.5% over the forecast period of 2024 to 2029. In this rapidly growing market of e-commerce, Meesho has become India’s largest ecommerce platform by gaining popularity among consumers and retailers, making online selling and shopping hassle-free and affordable. Explore the Meesho Startup Journey, a story of vision, innovation, and resilience, as it transformed from a small idea to a billion-dollar platform.
Sanjeev Barnwal- CTO and Co-founder of Meesho
Source: Mint
After completing his studies at IIT Delhi, Sanjeev worked with Sony’s Core Tech Team in Japan as an Android Camera Hardware Abstraction Layer Architecture Designer and Developer, enhancing his skills in technology and innovation. However, Sanjeev was determined to establish his venture, thus reconnected with his friend Vidit Aatrey to discuss business ideas.
Vidit Aatrey- CEO and Co-founder
Source: The Economic Times
Vidit has also graduated from IIT Delhi with a bachelor’s degree in engineering. He worked with InMobi, where he designed growth strategies for the company. He has also seen the operations part of the business at ITC Limited. In 2015, he came back to India to establish business with Sanjeev.
Genesis of Meesho
Source: Wikipedia
Vidit Aatrey and Sanjeev Barnwal, founded Meesho (short for Meri Shop, trans. My Shop) in 2015. Meesho is India’s only true e-commerce marketplace. With a mission to enable small businesses, including individual entrepreneurs, to succeed online, Meesho is democratizing Internet commerce and bringing a range of products and new customers online.
The Meesho marketplace provides Indian businesses, including Manufacturers, Retailers, SMBs, MSMEs, and individual entrepreneurs, access to a plethora of customers, pan-India logistics, payment services, and customer support capabilities to efficiently run their businesses on the Meesho ecosystem.
Meesho operates on a zero-commission model for sellers, meaning they keep 100% of the sale price without any commission charges. This allows sellers, Indian businesses and individual entrepreneurs to maximize their profits. The Meesho business strategy allows businesses to operate with minimal overhead and maximum reach, tapping into the potential of e-commerce to boost sales.
Meesho’s Business Model
Source: Smarther
Meesho functions as a platform that facilitates transactions between businesses, from manufacturers to sellers and as well as a D2C platform facilitating producers to directly sell to customers. It generates income from various channels by providing logistics services to suppliers, which contribute to its revenue, along with earnings from advertisements.
Fundings
| Date | Round | Amount | Lead Investors |
| Aug, 2016 | Seed | $120K | Y Combinator |
| Oct, 2017 | Series A | $3.4 million | Elevation Capital |
| Jun, 2018 | Series B | $11.5 million | Sequoia Capital India |
| Nov, 2018 | Series C | $50 million | DST Partners, RPS Ventures, Shunwei Capital |
| Jun, 2019 | Corporate | $25 million | Meta |
| Aug, 2019 | Series D | $125 million | Prosus and Naspers |
| Apr, 2021 | Series E | $300 million | SoftBank Vision Fund |
| Sep, 2021 | Series F | $570 million | B Capital, Fidelity Management and Research Company |
| Oct, 2021 | Debt financing | – | Trifecta Capital Advisors |
| Oct, 2023 | Secondary Market | $52.5 million | Wesrbridge Capital |
| May, 2024 | Venture | $275 million | – |
| Jan, 2025 | Secondary Market | $260 million | – |
Hitting the milestones
Source: Business Standards
- In 2016, Meesho was selected for the summer program by Y-Combinator and secured seed funding of $120,000.
- Meesho raised around $3.4 million in a Series A funding round led by SAIF Partners and others in October 2017.
- In September 2018, Meesho crossed over 1 million resellers on its platform.
- Around $50 million was raised in the Series C funding round from Shunwei Capital, DST Partners, and others.
- In June 2019, Meesho became India’s 1st startup to receive investment from Facebook of $25 million.
- A jump of 14x in annual revenue to INR 84 crore in FY19 was achieved by Meesho.
- Meesho was recognised among the World’s 50 Most Innovative Companies by Fast Company, through onboarding over 3 million resellers across 700 towns in 2020.
- In February 2021, Meesho delivered over 500k orders daily.
- Meesho became a unicorn company in 2021 by raising $300 million at a valuation of $2.1 billion from SoftBank Group.
- In 2023, Meesho surpassed 14.5 crore app downloads.
- In August 2024, Meesho had over 11 lakh sellers with over 50 lakh products categorised into 650+ product categories for over 14 crore customers.
Challenges
In the initial times, problems like limited transactions, shipping limitations, shortages of supplies, etc, were faced by Meesho. During COVID-19, challenges related to the supply chain were faced. In response to its competition, Meesho shifted from social commerce to ecommerce, and in the process of streamlining its operations, layoff off 150 employees and 251 employees in 2022 2023, respectively was pushed by Meesho.
Finances
Meesho recorded a 33% increase in annual operating revenue for FY24, reaching ₹7,615 crore from ₹5,735 crore in FY23. Profitability was achieved by Meesho in 2024, with a positive cash flow of ₹197 crore. Moreover, it experienced a 34% annual growth in orders, totalling 1.3 billion during April-December 2024, reporting 187 million unique annual transacting users.
Apart from Finances
Meesho’s easy-to-use app and various language support have helped it to foster micro-entrepreneurship, especially among people from rural areas, so that they can contribute to India’s digital economy and eliminate the digital divide.
Future Plan
With Meesho’s growing market dominance and expanding user base, it continues to push its boundaries and plans to go public in 2025. It is also focusing on investing in AI-driven recommendations, logistics optimisation, and expanding its product categories. With its increasing scalability, Meesho is determined to its commitment to making entrepreneurship accessible to all.
Conclusion
Vidit and Sanjeev have not only built a billion-dollar company but also transformed millions of lives by fostering financial independence and entrepreneurship. Meesho has become a significant platform due to the power of innovation, determination, and social impact. As it continues to grow, Meesho stands as a beacon of hope for aspiring entrepreneurs across India, with leaders like Sanjeev and Vidit. A decade of Meesho’s impactful journey with constant revamp has transformed it today into a Billion-dollar company and positioned it as one of India’s leading ecommerce platforms, being an inspiration for growing start-ups.
