India based startup Bikayi Bags raised US$ 2M in a seed funding round on 31 Aug 2020. Bikayi Bags is backed by Y-Combinator.
The investors included Mantis Ventures, a venture capital fund launched by the famous Grammy Award-winning band Chainsmokers. This was Mantis’ first investment in an Indian startup. Other investors were Y Combinator, Pioneer Fund and angel investor Teachable’s Ankur Nagpal.
The funds raised will be utilized towards hiring talent in order to accelerate product development, ramp up the Bikayi platform and onboard new merchants.
Bikayi bags was founded in 2019, by Sonakshi Nathani and Ashutosh Singla. It is based in Hyderabad and is a B2B startup. Bikayi helps small businesses to create online stores with a payment gateway and order tracking via WhatsApp.
Bikayi offers various packages for its services. The starting package is priced at Rs 167 per month and goes up to Rs 667 per month. It basically provides free WhatsApp integrated ecommerce store setup to merchants. The startup said in a statement that it is helping merchants set up their own Swiggy, BigBasket and Amazon to serve their customers.
According to the startup, the merchants on Bikayi are carrying out daily transactions of worth US$ 271K. The merchant base of Bikayi includes wholesalers, manufacturers, retailers and grocery stores. It has its reach over 3000 Indian towns and around 53% of its merchant base comes from tier 2 and tier 3 cities.
“They make commerce both local and personal, which is integral for success in India and their growth numbers speak for themselves,” said angel investor Ankur Nagpal.
Bikayi Bags had participated in Y-Combinator’s all virtual Summer Batch of 2020, along with 13 other startups — Zuddl, Medpiper, SockSoho, Decentro, Statiq, Mesh, Farmako Healthcare, Eatable, inFeedo, WareIQ and SuperTokens.
“We loved that their product makes everyone’s lives easier, while fitting naturally into the way business is done. The resulting growth has been phenomenal. It’s an honor for us to back this team and their vision,” said Tim Suzman, General Partner at Pioneer Fund.
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