 "Roposo")
Roposo, a fashion social network, has raised funds worth $5 million from Bertelsmann India Investments (BII), the strategic investment arm of the international media, services and education group. With this, Bertelsmann has closed the second leg of Series B round. Roposo declared the first leg of Series B in August last year with Tiger Global.
Roposo had raised $10 million from Tiger Global as part of the investment last year and Bertelsmann has now put in the rest. It went ahead with a two-part Series B investment despite Tiger Global willing to put in the entire amount to gain expertise from Bertelsmann.
Speaking on the fresh round of funds, Roposo, co-founder, Avinash Saxena said, “Bertelsmann has a proven experience in content, social and commerce. They’ve been early investors in several successful companies across the globe including emerging markets like India, China and Brazil. When we met their team, they had a unique perspective on how they could help Roposo scale. We liked their approach and are certain that their expertise will help our social network unlock many more opportunities in the days ahead.”
Roposo has announced its plans to leverage the funds raised for strengthening its technology backbone, expanding its team, bolstering the product and enhancing the Roposo community.
By augmenting its tech infrastructure, the start-up will be able to add more innovative and engaging features to its fashion social network. The fashion social network may also look at expanding its existing categories and offerings. Bertelsmann will offer guidance on how to scale Roposo to its next level of growth and expansion.
“We see tremendous promise in Roposo as a social network and as a business model. With an extremely strong founding team, it has managed to capture immense mindshare in India within a fairly short span since inception. With leaders such as multi-channel network StyleHaul in the US and social network Mogujie in China in the Bertelsmann family, we are excited to now work with Roposo to make it the leading fashion destination in India,” said BII Managing Director, Pankaj Makkar.
Based out of Gurgaon, Roposo was founded in July 2014 by three IIT Delhi alumni, Mayank Bhangadia, Avinash Saxena (ex-CTO of Zomato) and Kaushal Shubhank.
So far, Roposo has raised close to $21 million in institutional funding from Bertelsmann, Tiger Global, India Quotient and Flipkart co-founder Binny Bansal.
