Offline-to-online merchant platform DotPe raises $27.5 million series A funding from PayU, Info Edge Ventures & Google

Gurgaon-based offline-to-online commerce platform, DotPe has secured $27.5 million in Series A funding. The round was led by its early investor, PayU, the payments and fintech business of Prosus, resulting in an increase in the existing stake in the company.

Info Edge Ventures has doubled down on its seed investment in the company made last year and more than doubled its shareholding and tech giant Google joins in as a new investor. With this round the total funding stands at $35.5 million.

Founded by former-PayU founder Shailaz Nag with Gyanesh Sharma and Anurag Gupta in 2020. DotPe model provides digitised enterprise as well as SMB merchants through a full stack solution - from giving them an online presence to enabling seamless ordering (in-store and remote), online payments and delivery. The company claims over 38 percent of orders daily are now through repeat consumers.

Shailaz Nag, co-founder, DotPe said, "This new partnership will empower businesses (big or small) to be more discoverable, expand business avenues and conduct commerce like never before. Pandemic or not, we are here to reimagine the way offline businesses work and bring the digital revolution to the doorstep of every entrepreneur."

The company has two main focus verticals – enterprise and SMB. DotPe claims to have deep integration with over 10,000 restaurants and food courts, including leading global and domestic FnB on the enterprise side.

While on the SMB front, it’s product Digital Showroom has on-boarded over 5 million merchants within 6 months of launch in September 2020. This product enables merchants to sell online by creating a digital storefront and accepting orders through WhatsApp.

Anirban Mukherjee, CEO, PayU India, said, "In a very short time, DotPe has acquired a promising merchant base with its impeccable product experience and innovation. We have always believed in fostering innovation by working with such disruptive, early-stage start-ups. Under Shailaz’s leadership, we believe DotPe is positioned for rapid expansion as it disrupts and transforms the offline to online segment. They also align seamlessly with PayU’s vision of digitising payments in India by enabling merchants of all sizes. We are excited to build on our initial investment and continue to support the company on its journey."

This fresh funding will be deployed towards accelerating product development, market expansion and scaling technology to meet the fast-growing market demand.

Sanjay Gupta, vice president and country head, Google India said, "In the last few months we’ve seen an acceleration in offline players seeking to move their businesses online. We’re pleased to back young companies like DotPe that are supporting India’s digital transformation by connecting consumers and merchants through helpful, innovative tools. This investment under Google for India digitization fund underlines our belief in working with India’s start-up ecosystem towards the goal of building a more inclusive digital economy that will benefit everyone."