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Manipal’s Ranjan Pai writes seed cheque to e-commerce firm Meolaa

By K Amoghavarsha

  • 18 Apr 2023
Manipal’s Ranjan Pai writes seed cheque to e-commerce firm Meolaa
Credit: 123RF.com

E-commerce startup Meolaa on Tuesday said it has secured an undisclosed amount as part of its seed funding round led by Ranjan Pai, chairman of Manipal Education and Medical Group (MEMG).   
 
The Bengaluru-based company plans to use the fresh funds for hiring and expanding its India operations.
 
Founded in 2022 by Ishita Sawant, Meolaa offers sustainability-focused products in the areas of beauty, home improvements, baby care, apparel and others. The startup claims to have onboarded 750 brands across 6 verticals and claims to have 3 lakh users. 
 
Last year, the startup secured pre-seed funding of $165,000 from a host of investors such as Dale Vaz (Swiggy), Nikhil Vora (Sixth Sense Ventures), Sachin Bhartiya (Lighthouse Funds), and StrongHer Ventures, among others. 
 
“From their launch in 2022, the team has executed Meolaa.com to 50,000 stock keeping units (SKUs) across 1270 brands, with 3 lakh registered users placing orders from 90 cities across India,” said Dale Vaz, chief technology officer, Swiggy. 
 
Meanwhile, in January this year, Pai invested $2 million in geriatric care service provider Kites Senior Care’s pre-series A funding round. 

Funding activity in the e-commerce space has been subdued, in consonance with the entire startup ecosystem which is currently facing a funding crunch. However, last week JSW Group’s business-to-business (B2B) e-commerce arm, JSW One Platforms raised Rs 205 crore in a Series A funding round from Japan’s Mitsui & Co. at a valuation of more than Rs 2,705 crore. 

During the same period, consumer durables marketplace Direct2U, operated by Flow Commerce Pvt Ltd, also secured Rs 1.8 crore as a part of its seed funding round from Inflection Point Ventures (IPV).

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