'Never a better time': Meesho co-founder sees the bright side of 'funding winter'

A lot is being talked about the funding winter within the Indian start-up ecosystem. However, e-commerce platform, Meesho’s co-founder and CEO, Vidit Aatrey, had some advice for start-up entrepreneurs. Citing his own example, Aatrey said that he and his co-founder Sanjeev Barnwal started Meesho in the “funding winter of 2015.” 
 
After braving two-and-a-half years of the COVID-19 pandemic, funds infused reached an all-time low in the first two quarters of fiscal year 2022. Indian start-ups raised only $752 million in September 2022, down 83 per cent as compared to the year-ago period, according to data shared by Tracxn. Several start-ups like Unacademy also announced layoffs citing funding crunch as the reason.
 
“Many startups went bust, making lots of ex-entrepreneurs talent available in the market. These were extremely talented folks with high ownership who really wanted to prove their mettle,” Aatrey wrote on social media platform, LinkedIn. 
 
He also said that Meesho’s first three engineers, and head of business were all “ex-founders.” Starting out amidst the funding winter also meant that there were few competitors, Aatrey noted. 
 
Aatrey concluded by saying that companies with weak business models are never able to make a cut during times when the capital is limited or unavailable. He reiterated that if start-ups are able to survive and thrive during this period, they will have great growth prospects when the next wave of economic boom comes in. 
 
Meesho was founded by Aatrey and Barnwal in Bengaluru. The company which enables small businesses to sell their products online went on to raise several rounds of investments from the likes of SoftBank which has invested in iconic start-ups such as Paytm, WeWork, Didi Chuxing, Uber, and others. It is also backed by Fidelity Management and Eduardo Saverin's B Capital Group.
 
As per estimates by global investment group Prosus, it has digitally enabled about 17 million entrepreneurs in India.