Offline-to-online Merchant Platform 'Dot' Raises Seed Funding From PayU, Fosun RZ Capital, Info Edge Ventures & Others
Dot, offline-to-online (O2O) commerce and fintech platform founded by entrepreneur and PayU India's ex co-founder Shailaz Nag today announced that it has raised an initial seed funding of around US$8 million. PayU, the payments and fintech business of Prosus, and Fosun RZ Capital led the seed funding round, which also saw participation from Info Edge Ventures and other well-known angel investors in the country. Dot is a technology start-up, providing novel digital transformation and commerce solutions to brick & mortar outlets, which serve 1.3 billion Indian customers with market size of US$ 1 trillion[1].
Dot aims to revolutionize the offline-to-online market space by combining its fintech capabilities with extensive customer engagement offerings and smart tech innovations. Dot, with its unique product offerings, is expected to have the first-mover advantage & will be well-positioned to capture the strong growth from the market.
"There is a huge potential in the offline-to-online commerce and fintech sector, offering immense opportunities for the right product. India has the second largest number of internet users in the world and a rapidly increasing smartphone user base. This, coupled with the recent digitisation push both from the government and the private sector is generating tremendous demand for digital transformation solutions by brick and mortar stores. I personally see a significant potential in this space, which has led to the conception of Dot," said Shailaz Nag, founder, Dot.
Anirban Mukherjee, CEO, PayU India, said, "Shailaz has played a vital role in PayU India's growth and we wish him the best for his new business venture. PayU has worked extensively towards creating an encouraging and supportive environment to promote entrepreneurial dreams such as Shailaz's. We look forward to working with bright and promising minds who have the potential and seek support in making their ventures a success."
"Dot is a great fit to PayU's larger vision of developing a fintech ecosystem in India and its aim to deliver a complete value proposition to our growing customers. We are creating alliances through investments in companies whose vision is aligned to ours. With this investment in Dot, we aim to play a pivotal role in helping offline merchants with their digitization journey," he added.
Tej Kapoor,co-executive president of Fosun RZ Capital, said, "The Dot team has a deep and intrinsic understanding of the Indian fintech space and a proven history of creating and running successful companies, be it PayU or Ibibo. The current digital experience of offline merchants is broken at many levels and the engagement with customers is non-existent. Dot will change that and consequently create immense value."
Sanjeev Bikhchandani, Founder and Executive Vice Chairman, Info Edge, said, "We believe that Dot has identified an important untapped market segment. It is founded by a stellar team and has the first-mover advantage, which is a winning combination."
Dot is Shailaz Nag's second stint as an entrepreneur after PayU. A doyen of the fintech space, he co-founded PayU India. Under him, India became the largest market for PayU's global operations, accounting for more than 50% of its business. Shailaz helped PayU grow as the largest online payment solution provider and played a vital role in making it a profitable enterprise.
Dot is led by an experienced team, three ex-PayU employees - Shailaz Nag, Gyanesh Sharma & Anurag Gupta, all having proven expertise and knowledge of the fintech e-commerce space as well as experience in building and managing companies.
About Dot
With the aim to revolutionize offline-to-online(O2O) space, DOT strives to empower Brick & Mortar businesses with digital transformation and commerce solutions. The start-up targets to disrupt the Indian offline market by combining its fin-tech capabilities, along with an extensive customer engagement offering, helping merchants to attract & engage new as well as existing customers. Headquartered in Gurgaon, Dot is Shailaz Nag's second stint as an entrepreneur after PayU. Prior to Dot, Shailaz was co-founder & Managing Director of PayU, & led its payments business in India, having spent over eight years at the company, for which India is a core market.
About PayU (a Prosus group company)
PayU is the payments and fintech business of Prosus, a global consumer internet group and one of the largest technology investors in the world. Operating and investing globally in markets with long-term growth potential, Prosus builds leading consumer internet companies that empower people and enrich communities.
Prosus has a primary listing on Euronext Amsterdam (AEX:PRX) and a secondary listing on the JSE Limited (XJSE:PRX), and is majority owned by Naspers. For more information on Prosus and its companies and investments, please visit www.prosus.com
About Fosun RZ Capital
Fosun RZ capital an affiliate of Fosun International, is headquartered in Beijing. The fund's AUM is $1.2B+ and it invests in high-growth, high-tech companies in major economic growth regions fostering innovation ecosystems around the world. It has offices in China, United States, India, Israel, and Singapore. In India, Fosun RZ has invested in 12 companies including Delhivery, Kissht, Ixigo, Makemytrip and LetsTransport among others.
About Info Edge Ventures
Info Edge Ventures is an early stage venture capital fund backed by Info Edge (NSE: Naukri, ~$5bn market cap), the largest listed internet company in India. Info Edge is an early investor in market leading technology companies like Zomato, Policybazaar, Shopkirana and Ustraa among others.
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