We have heard thousands of start-up stories that start with an idea of a person to make himself/herself financially independent by providing some products and services to the other. Right? But you will not hear much about start-up stories that were started to make others capable of standing on their own feet. Well, that’s all about Meesho. Today, we will talk about a unique start-up venture that made thousands of Indian people find their financial independence from this software called “Meesho.” You probably have heard about this app, it may be from your friends, relatives, or it is currently running on your phone. That’s the reach and significance of this app. So, without further ado, let’s dig into the details. 

Two IIT Graduates Are Equals To Meesho!

Meesho is an Indian social commerce platform where people can resell products by using their social networks. It was founded by two tech-enthusiasts and IIT Delhi graduates, Vidit Aatrey and Sanjeev Barnwal. It is an ideal platform for individuals and small businesses to use Whatsapp, Instagram, and Facebook to start an online store of their own. Meesho is an acronym for “Meri Shop’ or “Apni Dukan”. Vikas Aatrey, the CEO Founder of Meesho, said that Meesho is an initiative to help individuals start their own venture without any investment. One of the major hindrances in starting a business today is a lack of capital. Meesho has helped many individuals to become self-employed and provided them with an opportunity to grow. 

How Meesho Works To Make People Self-Sustained?

With Meesho, they don’t need to set up a site or stock products. It is an app that can be installed on any Androids or iOS device. People have to simply register on the platform and create a Meesho account. Once the account has been made, the person can generate product links. Now, these product links can be shared over social networking platforms like WhatsApp, Facebook, Instagram, etc. When a customer places an order through the links, the logistics, payment, and delivery will be managed by Meesho. Meesho has been able to deliver more than 100k orders from registered suppliers across 4800+ cities. The platform has generated around ₹500 crore revenue for self-entrepreneurs by serving customers in Tier2 cities. Meesho has leveled up the e-commerce game in the country. According to reports, Meesho currently has 13 million entrepreneurs connected with them. A majority of entrepreneurs are women, which is undoubtedly a joyful success. 

Women Empowerment Fuels Meesho

Meesho is a brainchild of two IIT graduates. Both started the platform in 2015 as a social eCommerce app where people can resell products. Their primary aim through this venture was to empower women and hand them over the financial independence they deserve. Back in 2015, Vidit AAtrey quit his jon from InMobi to work on Meesho. He and Sanjeev were batchmates and came up with an idea to build a platform and help women and MSMEs overcome the challenges. As a social eCommerce industry that made people, especially women, self-dependent, Meesho brought a wave of revolutionary change in the country. Visit shared that social eCommerce platforms were in existence back then. Still, there were many challenges like access to supply, lack of logistics, customer-friendly policies, etc., that were preventing them from thriving. Both Sanjeev and Vikas worked on the vulnerabilities in this industry and developed a potent platform that could overcome all the hurdles. After leaving their job, both Vidit and Sanjeev started a platform called FASHNEAR. It was similar to what Swiggy does with food and Grofers did with groceries. They planned to tie up with stores, customers will place an order, and a delivery person will get it delivered. Initially, Vidit himself delivered the items to listen to customer feedback. But FASHNEAR didn’t get a breakthrough. Hence, Meesho was born. 

Feather On The Cap

Meesho is the latest start-up company that made it to the Unicorn Club. The company touched the mark of $1 Billion in just 5 years. Currently, they are raising funds from Softbank Vision of around $300 Million. Visit says that the social reselling marketing in 2020 was valued at around $6-7 Billion. However, by the year 2025, it will boom to $70 billion or so as the number of social media shoppers will increase. After the pandemic has hit the country, Meesho has doubled its revenue. He added that 70% of the orders are coming from tier 2 towns, and during the pandemic, they have served more than 2000 tier 2 towns. Indeed Meesho is a next-level social eCommerce platform, but there are plenty of hardships that follow. But behind all successful ideas, there is pain, hard work, and determination. In the past five years, Meesho has grown humongous, won many acclamations and accolades, expanded its reach to Indonesia, and not just survived but thrived in a pandemic. There is indeed something unique about Meesho that makes it immensely successful. Maybe it’s the well-wishes of those who were empowered by this app.  

The Bottom Line

Supporting start-ups today has become a fruitful investment as there are many promising ventures that will further prove their prowess. Meesho, on the other hand, is a successful start-up that lays the foundation stone for other entrepreneurs and allows them to flourish. The fruitful venture of two IIT-Delhi graduates has allowed many to start their own businesses through this social eCommerce platform. Both Vidit and Sanjeev are constantly looking for ways to tweak up the software according to the current demands that will make it more productive. Vidit and Sanjeev didn’t leave the hope of starting something innovative that can touch people’s lives. They continued working on a model idea and stayed on the right path. Meesho is all a result of executing an idea at the right time and finding the perfect path to sustain a business. Grabbing all the opportunities and combating the struggles, Meesho is today a renowned social eCommerce platform around the globe. All we can wish is that Meesho keeps on generating entrepreneurs and empowering women to remain self-sufficient.

Read more