Meesho was founded in December 2015 by IIT Delhi alumni, Vidit Aatrey, and Sanjeev Barnwal, as a Bengaluru-based social commerce platform. This innovative platform empowers small businesses by offering a zero-investment reselling model, and allows users to sell products directly or via reselling through social platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp.

With a strong emphasis on secure payments, reliable shipping, and minimal return rates, Meesho has emerged as a go-to platform for over 2 million resellers and 20,000 manufacturers. The company aims to reach 100 million monthly active users, reflecting its rapid growth trajectory.

Company Snapshot

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• Legal Name: Meesho Inc.
• Headquarters: Bengaluru, Karnataka
• Established: 2015
• Business Model: B2C
• Industries: E-commerce, Software, Tech Services
• Website: www.meesho.com
• Employees: 2,790 (+5% growth)

Key Executives:

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• Vidit Aatrey: Founder & CEO
• Sanjeev Barnwal: Founder & CTO
• Jatin Mazalcar: CFO
• Kirti Varun Avasarala: Chief Product Officer
• Harshit Madan: VP & GM (Supply Growth)
• Prateek Agarwal: VP & GM (Monetization)
• Market Valuation: $2.1 billion (October 2021)
• Total Funding: $515.2 million
• Revenue (FY20): ₹306.92 crore
• Ownership: Private equity, venture capital, angel investments
• Product Categories: Apparel, Jewelry, Beauty, Health, Home Goods, Electronics, and more

How Meesho Operates

Meesho's unique approach lies in its zero-commission model, making it particularly attractive to small businesses and entrepreneurs.

Here's how it works:

• Empowering Entrepreneurs: Meesho allows users, especially homemakers, to earn by reselling products without any upfront investment.
• Social Selling: The platform leverages social networks to connect sellers with potential customers, fostering engagement and trust.
• Revenue Streams: While Meesho does not charge commission, it generates revenue through services like advertising, data analytics, and Meesho Mall—a branded product hub offering specialized support.
• Focus on Emerging Markets: Targeting Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities, Meesho caters to users often new to e-commerce, with multilingual support and a discovery-based interface tailored to their needs.
• Technological Edge: Utilizing data analytics, Meesho understands customer preferences, helping optimize product offerings and improve user experience.

Why Meesho Stands Out in India

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Meesho caters to filling that void by facilitating the people-starting-business-with-no-resources in a totally different measure from what is being offered by several others. The platform has been a revolution for many micro-businesses and quite a number of them are women.

The user-first approach of the company listens to what the audience is looking for with respect to ensuring that the platform is available for non-English speakers and first-time internet users. Accessible and efficient logistics network ensures swift and practical product delivery to allow sellers to focus on building their business.

Key Investors and Competitors

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• Investors: Meesho has gained endorsement from popular entities such as Y Combinator, SoftBank Vision Fund 2, Facebook, Sequoia Capital India, and Prosus Ventures.
• Competitors: Its formidable contenders include DealShare, GlowRoad, Shop101, Volusion, and StoreHippo, to name a few.

The Meesho Impact

Meesho has allowed most people to be entrepreneurs and helped to make selling online less complicated, which is one of the notable impacts the company has had on e-commercial India. True to its values-inclusiveness, innovation, and accessibility-the company is paving a path for the next big flood of social commerce in the country.