BackShopalyst raises $2 million from Kalaari Capital
Shopalyst has developed a platform called Shortlyst that allows publishers and developers to add in-app buy buttons on content pages
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Bengaluru: Shopalyst Technologies Pvt. Ltd, which provides a platform to create digital storefronts on websites and apps, has raised $2 million in a Series A funding round from Kalaari Capital.
A digital storefront allows online retailers to sell products directly on popular websites and apps, while it gives consumers an opportunity to shop when browsing a particular website or app without visiting the merchant’s platform.
The company, which was founded by four former Infosys executives—Girish Ramachandra, Sajeesh PJ, Mohan Kumar Krishnan and Vibin Balakrishnan—had earlier raised $250,000 from Basab Pradhan, former head of global sales and marketing at Infosys, and Kanwaljit Singh, founder of Fireside Ventures, an early-stage investment firm. The company counts Infosys Ltd’s co-founder Nandan Nilekani as an advisor.
Shopalyst has developed a platform called Shortlyst, which allows publishers and developers to add in-app buy buttons on content such as images, videos, chats, news or social shares, which can prompt a consumer to make a purchase.
“If there is an editorial content that talks about a certain fashion trend, you can have a buy option on the content page, where, at the click of it, we can bring a product from multiple retailers related to that content," said chief executive Ramachandra. “We are adding functionality to the content. It is not an ad that comes as an extra thing," he added.
At present, the company charges the merchants a commission for every transaction and pays the publishers—websites and app—for using the storefront powered by Shopalyst.
“We index product information from multiple e-commerce sites and make them available for instant shopping. We work with popular sites such as Myntra, Jabong, Flipkart and Amazon, among others. We currently cater to the fashion and beauty categories and are just about adding electronics," said Ramachandra.
Interestingly, Facebook, Twitter, Google, Pinterest and YouTube are also experimenting with in-app buy buttons to grab a major share of the e-commerce pie by leveraging the reach of social media. Home-grown mobile advertising technology company InMobi has launched a new platform called Miip, which also allows in-app purchases.
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