Amazon acquires social commerce firm GlowRoad to take on Meesho, Flipkart's Shopsy

US e-tail behemoth Amazon has acquired social commerce start-up GlowRoad at an undisclosed valuation, which is indicative of a large bet to take on Meesho and Flipkart's Shopsy in the e-commerce reselling market. An Amazon spokesperson confirmed to Business Today that the e-tailer has acquired the company.

 
"Amazon continues to explore new ways to digitise India and delight customers, micro- entrepreneurs and sellers and bringing GlowRoad onboard is a key step in this direction. Together with GlowRoad, Amazon will help accelerate entrepreneurship among millions of creators, homemakers, students, and small sellers from across the country," Amazon told BT in response to a query.
 
"This acquisition will complement GlowRoad’s already loved service with Amazon’s technology, infrastructure, and digital payments capabilities, bringing more efficiency and cost-saving for everyone. This is a step further in Amazon’s commitment to digitize 10 MM local Indian businesses by 2025," the spokesperson added.
 
GlowRoad was last valued at $75 million when it raised $7 million in 2020 with Accel Partners, Vertex Ventures and IND Money as lead investors.
 
The start-up is a women-focused social commerce network that allows the reselling of products to customers on various social media platforms.
 
"GlowRoad lets users resell products (from 100+ categories) directly from manufacturers and wholesalers with the power of social networks. We truly believe in the potential of Digital India, with our majority of users being homemakers from Tier II, III and IV cities. The platform hosts 6mn+ resellers from 1000+ cities across India, and we are proud to empower 100000+ active women resellers in our platform," GlowRoad said in a statement.
 
According to consulting firm RedSeer, the social commerce industry in India could touch $7 billion in Gross Merchandise Value (GMV) by 2025, occupying 5 per cent of India's e-commerce industry in next few years. Ends