ShopClues raises $1M in bridge round from Unilazer Ventures

ShopClues has raised $1 million in a bridge round from Ronnie Screwvala-managed Unilazer Ventures. The funding comes amidst talks about ShopClues exploring merger options with other market players.

The company allocated about 1,027 equity shares to the Indian subsidiary for raising this round, according to The Economic Times. The Gurgaon-based company last raised equity capital in 2016 when it claimed it had become a unicorn, a privately held startup valued at $1 billion or more. Since then the company has raised venture debt and cut down its business in several categories. Tiger Global, Nexus Venture Partners and GIC are some of its prominent investors.

As per regulatory filing, ShopClues’ total revenue was Rs 180.3 crore in 2016-17, from Rs 161.4 crore in the preceding fiscal. Losses for the year ended March 2017 stood at Rs 332.65 as compared to Rs 383 crore in the previous year.

Rumors are rife that ShopClues is simultaneously working on exploring the possibility of merging its operations with some other online marketplace operator but there is no official confirmation from ShopClues on this yet.

In the online retail space, its clearly a two-horse race as of now between Amazon and Flipkart. While Amazon is digging deep into its overflowing money-chest to fund the Indian venture, Flipkart is also capitalizing on its position vis-à-vis Amazon India and is being wooed by the biggest names in the business, including Walmart.