ShopClues is an Indianonline marketplace owned by Clues Network Pvt. Ltd. It was established in July 2011 in Silicon Valley by Sanjay Sethi, Sandeep Aggarwal and Radhika Aggarwal. Based in Gurgaon, India, the company claims to have over 600,000 merchants and 28 million products on its platform, serving over 32,000 pincodes across the country. Valued at US$1.1 billion in 2015, ShopClues has Tiger Global, Helion Ventures, and Nexus Venture Partners as major investors.. In 2019, it was acquired by Singapore-based Qoo10 in an all-stock deal valued at approximately US$70 million, representing one of the largest valuation meltdowns for an Indian-based startup..
Background
ShopClues provides unstructured categories of home and kitchen, fashion, electronics and daily utility items. Around 70% of its Gross Merchandising Value is received from Tier – II and Tier – III cities. In June 2016, the onlinemarketplace reached half a million sellers on its platform, claimed to be the highest in the Indian e-commerce industry. The employee strength as of 2017 is more than 700 people.
In 2015, the e-commerce player launched its Android app for sellers, and later added iOS apps.
Growth
In June 2015, ShopClues launched a financing platform Capital Wings to fund its merchants’ businesses.
In May 2016, joined hands with GoDaddy to assist its small and medium entrepreneurs in starting their own e-commerce websites.
In July 2016, launched an ad platform, AdZone wherein sellers may market their products with the help of native and custom advertising.
Acquisition
In July 2016, ShopClues collaborated with a hybrid e-commerce company, StoreKing to promote its products on the latter's app. In the same year, the company acquired Momoe, a Bangalore-based mobile payments company. In 2016 ShopClues acquired the IP of a SaaS platform from Squeakee Media which was founded by Abrar Shaikh in Mumbai, India. In 2019, ShopClues was acquired by Singapore-based Qoo10 with stock valued at US$70 million.
Investment
In December 2015, the company invested towards seed funding in HeyBiz, which is a real-time shopping assistant app.
In August 2015, the owner of the brand Ray-Ban, Luxottica Group accused ShopClues of allegedly selling fake products and took up the issue in court. The Delhi High Court pulled up ShopClues for breaching its earlier order and continuing the sale of Ray-Ban products.
The site has had a number of complaints both from customers and from other businesses claiming that the site is selling fake products.
In 2013, founder and CEO Sandeep Agarwal was charged with insider trading and arrested in the US. Agarwal subsequently plead guilty and entered a plea bargain on the charges. Agarwal resigned from ShopClues in 2013.
Awards and Recognition
In 2016, received the Gold Award at APAC Effie Awards for Ghar Wapsi campaign in David vs. Goliath category.
