AAA Corporates join $570m Meesho round

Corporates join $570m Meesho round

India-based online reselling platform Meesho has amassed $570m in funding at a $4.9bn valuation from investors including social network operator Facebook, internet and telecommunications group SoftBank and internet group Prosus.

Investment and financial services group Fidelity and investment firm B Capital Group co-led the round, which also featured Footpath Ventures and Trifecta Capital.

SoftBank tapped its Vision Fund 2 to participate in the round while Prosus, which was formed by media and e-commerce group Naspers, was represented by its corporate venturing unit, Prosus Ventures.

Founded in 2015, Meesho runs an online platform that lets small businesses and entrepreneurs sell products to consumers through social media. It also handles the administrative side of selling through services including supply chain management, payment processing and logistics.

The company claims to have helped more than 15 million entrepreneurs start their own online businesses in India. It has raised just over $1bn to date.

SoftBank Vision Fund 2 led Meesho’s $300m series E round, in April this year, which was backed by Facebook, Prosus Ventures, Shunwei Capital, Venture Highway and Knollwood Investment.

Naspers led a $125m round for the company in August 2019 with additional investment from Facebook, Shunwei Capital, Venture Highway, SAIF Partners, RPS Ventures and Sequoia Capital.

Meesho had already picked up $50m in a 2018 series C round that included Shunwei Capital, Sequoia India, DS Partners, RPS Ventures and existing backers SAIF Partners, Venture Highway and Y Combinator.