India's GoKwik raised a small $13M round for a hefty leap in valuation | TechCrunch

Gokwikan Indian startup that offers a suite of integrated e-commerce products, has raised a small round of $13 million, which it calls a “growth” round, that has boosted its valuation to $450 million pre-money.

While the new funding round, led by RTP Global, is 63% smaller than its Series B of $35 million, announced in May 2022, it has valued the New Delhi-based startup 43% more than its last pre-money valuation of $315 million. The fresh funding also included participation from the startup’s existing investors, namely Z47, Peak XV Partners, and Think Investments, bringing its total fundraising to $68 million since its inception in 2020.

But what has made GoKwik so attractive to investors? Its offerings help companies, big and small, set up shop online and enter the direct-to-consumer (D2C) space.

The D2C space is expected to see a significant increase over time as more brands poised to come online target young consumers and the internet reaches new homes. In India, the world’s second-largest internet market after China and the most populous country, the D2C market is expected to reach $60 billion in value by 2027, up from $12 billion in 2022, per a report (PDF) by KPMG.

Currently, GoKwik has more than 12,000 paying merchants, up from 2,500–3,000 a year ago, spread over India, Europe, the UK, and U.S. These merchants use its SaaS products that allow them to set up their online stores powered by Shopify, Magento, Salesforce, and WooCommerce and enable checkout, online payments, and facilities to offer returns and cash-on-delivery options. It also helps brands to do commerce via WhatsApp, a popular platform for businesses and consumers in markets like India, parts of Europe, and Brazil.

GoKwik counts brands like Indian eyewear giant Lenskart, personal care brand Honasa Consumer, cosmetics company Lakmé, London’s Pepe Jeans, and Licester’s Xplosive Ape as customers.

Some of the products that GoKwik offers are also available through other players. For instance, Razorpay and Cashfree Payments offer checkout solutions; Clevertap and MoEngage offer CRM.

But Chirag Taneja, co‑founder and CEO, told TechCrunch that GoKwik’s suite of products is integrated so customers tend to buy at least two of them on average. “If you use our login product, it helps you do retargeting better. Hence, our KwikEngage product emerges there, which is a WhatsApp commerce piece. Similarly, if you use our checkout product, the abandoned cart, for abandoned carts, you end up using our KwikEngage piece,” he said.

This has helped GoKwik increase its annualized revenue by 20% year-over-year, reaching over $30 million in annual recurring revenue (ARR) this year, up from $25 million last year. It has helped brands process a cumulative gross merchandise value of $2 billion, with 55% of transactions involving prepaid payments and 45% cash-on-delivery. Of all the prepaid payments, 80% are via the Indian government’s Unified Payments Interface.

With the fresh funding, GoKwik aims to expand its presence and customer base by entering new markets and deepening its presence in areas where WhatsApp has a large consumer base, such as Germany, France, and Latin American countries including Brazil. The startup also plans to bolster AI’s presence on its products. It already offers solutions such as AI calling for abandoned carts. Furthermore, the startup plans to enable Indian merchants to sell their products to foreign customers with a global checkout solution that would integrate Stripe and other international payment processing services.

GoKwik currently has a runway of 60-70 months, with close to $35–$37 million in the bank, and is targeting profitability within the next 18 months. It also looks to go public within the next 3–5 years. Meanwhile, the startup is attracting investor interest, although Taneja confirmed to TechCrunch that it is not currently raising more funds.

The startup has a headcount of around 400 people, primarily based in its offices in Gurugram and Bengaluru, with a handful of employees also based in the UK.