We all know about the prominent role that the Internet and online shopping play in our lives. From fresh food to home appliances to the latest fashion, shopping websites are the first place we go to. None of us bothers to go to the nearest market or a shopping mall anymore. Especially with the pandemic situation, we find it more safe and convenient to order stuff online. The innovative platforms will also bring you the satisfaction of searching through thousands of varieties and finding trends that you love. There are many leading shopping sites in India that cater to all kinds of customers.
Limeroad (1) is one such online marketplace that has a wide range of products including fashion apparel, accessories, kitchen commodities, home decor, and more. Based in Gurgaon, Haryana Limeroad caters to almost every major city in our country in the shortest time possible. It was founded by Suchi Mukherjee and Ankush Mehra in 2012. What makes Limeroad stand apart is its creative ideas to provide the best experience for customers. Limeroad is the first shopping website to provide an exclusive social platform for women.
It enables you to build a creative scrapbook which can be used to formulate styles using the products of Limeroad. Scrapbook is an intriguing tool offered by Limeroad through which you can express the fashionista in you. The products from the website can be put together to create and share your dream looks. It is like a personal portfolio that can be used to practice your creative side. You can also receive extra earnings by making marvelous assortments through the scrapbook. Not only does the website show the latest trends in fashion, but it also works like a fashion magazine where you get inspiration for your choices. Limeroad features styles from local brands as well as high-end international brands. A large number of sellers regularly update the products on Limeroad so that the customers never lose track of the recent designs.
The beginning of Limeroad
Suchi Mukherjee, the co-founder and CEO Limeroad had worked for Skype, Gumtree, and Lehman brother before initiating Limeroad. She had gained her economics degree from St, Stephen’s College, Delhi, and masters from the London School of Economics. The idea of building a platform like Limeroad arose while Suchi was on maternity leave from her job. A huge amount of alone time gave her the space to work on this idea and develop the concepts. Limestone would be a website that could provide the best lifestyle products while also acting as a social platform where women could share their favorite styles.
Suchi knew that there were millions of products across many websites, but many found it challenging to find the ones they desired. Women had to search through thousands of sites looking for something that suits their style. Suchi anticipated that this problem could be solved by creating a broad discovery outlet for lifestyle merchandise. The process of unearthing beautiful accessories and apparel would become an exciting and easy task to do. With the help of an interactive space, the customers could also be given the opportunity to share and discuss their collections with friends.
Any kind of style you like is available in our market. The struggle was bringing them together into a customer-friendly platform. It is with this vision that Limeroad was established. The name was inspired by the famous Grand Trunk Road which revolutionized transportation in the Indian subcontinent. Similarly, Suchi hoped to evolve the face of the fashion industry with her innovative idea. To make her dream come true, Suchi started studying the Indian online shopping industry. The commerce of lifestyle products was valued at more than one trillion dollars. A country that accounted for 21 percent of this business had vast opportunities for a marketplace like Limeroad. Suchi approached her friend, Ankush Mehra, to learn the ups and downs of initiating an enterprise in India. Ankush Mehra is now the head of the Supply chain at Limeroad, and the CTO is Prashant Mallik, an ex-techie at Facebook.
Early growth and achievements
Limeroad had seen tremendous growth ever since the company was established in 2012. Within a year, they had acquired more than 600 vendors all over India. The customers were highly satisfied, as indicated by the 250,000 user-generated collections every month. By the year 2014, the growth of the company was multiplied by five times. The famous Bollywood actress Neha Dhupia joined the board as a style director in the same year. They soon gained the trust of investors like Lightspeed Venture Partners and Matrix Partners, India. This was because of the promising growth rate that Limeroad displayed. They had also put together a good quality team that strived hard to make the vision of Limeroad, a reality.
Limeroad had 50 employees at the beginning, which grew to 400 within four years. By 2016, Limeroad had more than 50,000 sellers, 75,000 scrapbook community members and threé million unique posts every month. In 2015, Limeroad won the award for the Coolest Startup of the Year by Business Today. They also won the Unicorn Startup Award by NDTV in 2016. A year later, Limeroad was nominated for the ET Startup Award by rye Economic Times. In 2016, they entered into the business of men’s fashion wear. They also collaborated with many small and medium scale enterprises which joined as sellers on the platform. This benefited the SMEs because the transactions were carried out within 24 hours, and they witnessed considerable growth in business. The Limeroad company initiated a program called India Design Cell in 2018. It intended to provide a space for growing fashion designers in India to sell their products through Limeroad. They also started an offline store in Gujarat in March 2018.
Partnerships and Fundings
The major investors in Limeroad are Tiger Global Management, Lightspeed Indian Partners, Matrix Partners, etc. A series B round, which was carried out in May 2014 was able to raise 15 million dollars. They also conducted a series C round of investment in March 2015, which raised 30 million dollars from the existing investors. Limeroad became partners with the Madhya Pradesh Government’s M.P. Laghu Udyog Nigam (MPLUN) in 2016 to create opportunities for the handloom products to be sold through their platform.
