IIT Bombay alumni secure Rs 14 crore funding for e-commerce platform

New Delhi: A company founded by two Indian Institute of Technology (IIT Bombay) alumni have secured seed funding worth Rs 14,40,00,000. An e-commerce platform ‘Oyela’ was founded by Rahul Gope and Anjan Kumar Patel completed BTech in Mechanical Engineering from IIT Bombay in 2018.

The entrepreneurs said their firm aims at providing a platform for emerging businesses, product creators and artists to sell to their audience and grow their business. They have secured the seed funding round led by Prime Venture Partners.

Oyela said business owners can set-up and manage their digital storefronts and grow their products as they are provided with tools to collaborate with other businesses for better reach, streamlining operations, and Instagram automation on the platform. The company will also help them in building their supply chain, it added.

Last year, Oyela had secured Rs 4.1 crore pre-seed funding from a consortium of investors that included Good Capital, Upsparks Capital, and Eximius Ventures. “In the next 5 years, Oyela aims to power 2 million social stores, thus making up for 1.6% of the e-commerce market and 9.5% of the social commerce market in India,” the company said.

Rahul Gope, CEO, Oyela, said "Hailing from the Andaman islands, I once ran an online pearl boutique. My venture died down due to lack of discovery and operational barriers. Seeing the explosion of creative entrepreneurship in the country, I recognised that these challenges could resonate with aspiring entrepreneurs. Oyela was born from this vision, aiming to provide others with the tools and opportunities.”

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Amit Somani, managing partner of the Prime Venture Partners, said, "The youth are adept in e-commerce and are open to experimenting with fashion. Currently, there are more than 20 crore sellers on Instagram globally. Oyela provides solutions to streamline and automate their social-media led commerce business. We are impressed by the team at the company and we believe they are on the brink of transforming the social commerce landscape in India.”