Just when we thought there’s no more VC money for ecommerce companies, this comes up.
Valyoo Technologies, the e-commerce company which runs LensKart, BagsKart, WatchKart and JewelKart, has raised nearly $10 million from UTV founder Ronnie Screwvala’s Unilazer Ventures Limited and IDG Ventures India, according to a new report.
It was Screwvala’s first bet in the Indian ecommerce space, reports The Economic Times. The Delhi based startup had raised $4 million from IDG Ventures India in 2011. The $100 million Unilazer Ventures is a sector agnostic fund which has a focus on early to late stage startups.
The funding comes at a time when “me too” e commerce companies that had mushroomed in the country over the last 3 years are struggling to raise further rounds to stay in business. This doesn’t come as a surprise though. As we had pointed out in an interview with Manoj Kumar, the CEO & Co founder of eDabba, there is no funding crunch for differentiated ecommerce companies.
LensKart, the company’s online site which sells eye-wear, like lenses and eyeglasses and contributes to more than 50 % of its total revenue, has some interesting sales strategy going on. For instance, it gives away the frames for eyeglasses for free and charges only for the lenses.
