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ShopClues Raises $16 Million, Could Break-Even By Diwali

The e-commerce company is said to have held discussions with multiple companies for a possible sale

An e-commerce website opened on a laptop. (Source: Pixabay)
An e-commerce website opened on a laptop. (Source: Pixabay)

E-commerce platform ShopClues has raised $16 million from some of its existing investors as part of an internal round and is hopeful of breaking-even by Diwali this year, according to an internal e-mail sent to employees.

Seeking to assuage concerns among employees, ShopClues CEO Sanjay Sethi said despite challenges like Walmart-Flipkart’s $16 billion deal, the company is confident of profitability and growth targets.

There have been speculations about ShopClues' fate in the past few months. The company has held discussions with multiple e-commerce players for a possible sale, according to sources. There were also reports that the company is laying off employees.

In his email, Sethi said the company has reduced its burn from $5.5 million in January 2017 to less than half a million dollars a month currently. “And if we continue executing per plan, this Diwali, we will break even for the first time ever. It will be a great milestone and a strong validation of our strategy and execution,” he added.

People can easily misunderstand our resolve around tight fiscal discipline, keeping costs low, focus on certain categories and geographies as signs of weakness
ShopClues CEO Sanjay Sethi

He added that ShopClues generates about 20 percent of its revenue from technological and operational services and is doubling every quarter. “ShopClues will continue to invest in technology and operational capabilities to keep the cost down and sustainably grow the topline at a pace complementing the coming of target consumers online.”

ShopClues narrowed its losses to Rs 208 crore for the year ended March 2018 from a total loss of Rs 333 crore in the last year. The total revenue from operations grew 45 percent to Rs 275 crore in 2017-18.