GoZefo raises 40cr from Sequoia India, others

Bangalore-based refurbished goods marketplace GoZefo has raised Rs 40 crore in funding led by venture fund Sequoia India with participation from Beenext and existing investor Helion Venture Partners.

The funding will be used to expand its presence in Mumbai and Delhi, which have been recent additions. Besides investing in building technology and hiring talent, the startup also aims at moving beyond furniture and appliances categories.

“We entered Mumbai one month ago. Even in Delhi where we were earlier only doing furniture, we have recently added appliances. For the next few months, we want to go deep in these categories and these two cities,” said Rohit Ramasubramanian, co-founder GoZefo, adding that Zefo will look to further its geographic expansion in another 6-8 month.

By end of 2017, Zefo hopes to be in the top eight cities of India, he said.

Founded in August 2015 by Rohit Ramasubramanian, a former Helion Venture executive, Karan Gupta, Himesh Joshi and Arjit Gupta, GoZefo is an online portal to sell and buy used goods, currently serving in two categories—appliances and furniture in Bengaluru, Mysore, Delhi, Gurgaon, Noida, and Mumbai.

According to Ramasubramanian, Zefo has been built around the core ideas of trust and convenience, mainly because there is a lack of trust both on the seller’s side and the buyer’s.

Unlike most classifieds platforms, which let buyers and sellers directly interact with each other for a transaction, Zefo buys goods from sellers, quality checks every product, disinfects and polishes them to ensure that the products are in usable condition while saving buyers up to 60 percent from the price of a new product.

This allows Zefo to provide standardization, quality and manage the end-to-end logistics, thus reducing hassles for both sellers and buyers.

“Zefo’s USP lies in its ability to bring the element of trust, reliability, and convenience in a market where these have been largely ignored,” said Abheek Anand, principal, Sequoia Capital India Advisors, who has joined the company’s board.

The company is growing at a rate of 40 percent every month, selling 400-500 products a day, claims the team.