O2O start-up Fashalot looks at raising 5 million dollars

An online to offline (O2O) platform, Fashalot, which is a fashion and store discovery mobile platform, is trying to raise 5 million dollars (Rs 33.5 crores) in Series A funding. At the moment it is in talks with venture capitalists for the funding. In April, the Gurgaon-based firm had raised an undisclosed amount of funding from YourNest Angel Fund and angel investor Rajul Garg.

The plan is to use the funds raised for technology scalability, product advancement, growth in the existing markets, opening new markets and team.

A big trend in China, O2O businesses are growing in India too. The opportunity is huge in India. These start-ups draw mobile users to local physical stores and services. O2O start-ups have started tapping the more than 12 million brick-and-mortar stores that exist in India.

Rishi Batra, Co-founder and CFO officer points out that e-commerce has solved the demand for products like mobiles, electronics etc but for high touch and feel categories, brick-and-mortar stores will continue to dominate. O2O businesses normally charge a fee from the brands they send customers to, and later get a share from a successful transaction. Till now, Fashalot has driven more than 30,000 foot traffic to its partner stores in June 2016. This was spread across 2,500 listed stores, translating into 12 shoppers per month per store.