IsGoingOnline Raises ₹1.50 cr in Pre-Series A round led by Artha VF

KOCHI:
Going ahead with plans to expand its platform and add key product capabilities, IsGoingOnline (IGO) under the Kerala Startup Mission (KSUM) has raised Rs 1.5 crore to scale up internationally and enable SMEs to go online. IGO raised the fund in a Pre-Series A round led by India’s first early-stage micro VC fund Artha Venture Fund, along with participation from Unicorn India Ventures, SEA Fund and Brookfield Asset Management’s former Managing Partner Devdatt Shah.

IGO offers an automated product photography and online listing solution which help MSMEs and other stores to onboard and sell their products online. IGO helps businesses which are finding it tough to keep the offline models afloat amidst the pandemic and changing consumption patterns.

IGO, previously known as PerfectFit, pivoted its existing 3D scanning business to that of digital cataloguing and online listing. The pandemic period has seen the percentage of small enterprises that pivoted to digital sales channels rise to 53 in place of 29 per cent before the outbreak of Covid-19, according to a CRISIL study.

The startup offers holistic services to set up online operations powered by new technologies (such as artificial intelligence), besides small and medium businesses looking to set up their own marketplace or get listed on third-party websites such as Amazon and Flipkart. In an industry that is growing 16 per cent annually, IGO connects 400-plus businesses to more than 120,000 buyers across the country by leveraging social commerce.

Artha Venture Fund said the pandemic has made consumer demands go online, having a domino effect leading to the transition of sellers to cater to these needs. “We were impressed by the way IGO is leveraging new-age proprietary technologies to cater to these business needs,” Artha Growth Partner Vinod Keni noted. “Their successful business pivot and a strong (inbound) pipeline of SMEs was another factor that led us to invest in them.”

Unicorn India Ventures Managing Partner Anil Joshi said IGO had the knowhow and understanding of the retail business and the necessary tools that can enable a chunk of SMEs to explore social commerce thereby directly impacting their bottom line.

IGO Chief Executive Officer Eobin George said the company was looking for investors who would be holistically involved in its journey and help it scaling up business. “We are taking our operations to the US, Canada and the Middle East. IGO is looking at a market share of 18 per cent by 2023-24,” he added.

IGO, in its nascent stage, clocked a 25 per cent month-on-month growth besides a clientele that includes Bigbasket, Namdhari, French Terrain and IceBasket. Additionally, it offers value-added services through its studio arm Perfit Studio Network, which helps businesses generate professional-grade photos and videos of their products. Recently, IGO launched its App for sellers that helps create ultra light web stores that can be shared through Whatsapp and social media platforms. The company, which enables businesses to create online storefronts within 60 minutes, has two patents in the digitization and display technologies segment.

KSUM is the nodal agency of the Kerala government for entrepreneurship development and incubation activities in the state.