Tens of millions of people each year purchase a pre-owned mobile phone in India, the world’s second-largest market. Phone makers and huge online sellers such as Amazon and Flipkart understand it, however it’s excessive of a hassle for them to inspect, fix and resell used phones. However these companies likewise know that customers are more likely to purchase a smartphone if they are offered the ability to trade-in their existing handsets.
A startup that is helping these companies tackle this obstacle said on Thursday it has actually raised $15 million in a brand-new funding round. New York-based Olympus Capital Asia made the financial investment through Asia Environmental Partners, a fund committed to the ecological sector. The five-year-old startup, which counts Blume Ventures amongst its early financiers, has raised $42 million to date.
Cashify runs an eponymous platform– both online and physical shops and kiosks– for users to purchase and sell used smart devices, tablets, smartwatches, laptops, desktops and video gaming consoles. 90% of its organization today surrounds the mobile phone classification, described Mandeep Manocha, founder and chief executive of Cashify, in an interview with TechCrunch.
“For consumers, our proposal is that we make it simple for you to offer your devices. You concern our site or app, response questions to objectively examine the condition of your device, and we offer you an estimate of just how much your gizmo is worth,” he stated. “If you like the price, we choose it up from your doorstep and give you instant money.”
A few years back, I discussed the struggle e-commerce firms face globally in managing returned items. There are numerous liability challenges– such as having to make sure that the innards in a returned smartphone have not been tempered with– in addition to overhead costs in reversing an order.
Manocha said that phone makers and e-commerce firms have actually found much better ways to handle returned products in the last few years, however they still lose a substantial quantity of cash on them. These challenges have actually created a big opportunity for start-ups such as Cashify.
Cashify states it’s the market leader in its classification in India. The startup has partnerships with “almost every OEM,” including Apple, Samsung, OnePlus, Oppo, Xiaomi, Vivo and HP. “If you stroll into an Apple store today, they utilize our platform.” For consumers in India, if they went with the trade-in program, Apple.com likewise uses Cashify’s trading platform, he said.
The start-up also works with leading e-commerce firms in India– Amazon, Flipkart and Paytm Shopping Center. The firms use Cashify’s trading and exchange software application, and likewise rely on the startup for liquidation of devices. The startup then repairs these gadgets and sells the reconditioned units to customers.
“Essentially, whether you come directly to us, or go to popular e-commerce firms or phone OEMs, we are handling the majority of the trading,” he said. Even if a client sell the device to OEMs, or e-commerce firms, these companies sell the gadget to gamers like Cashify, which serves over 2 million clients in more than 1,500 cities.
The startup prepares to release part of the fresh capital to expand its existence in the offline market. Manocha stated Cashify currently has lots of offline stores and kiosks at shopping malls throughout the nation and it has currently shown profoundly reliable in brand name awareness among clients.
The startup likewise prepares to broaden outside of India, employ more talent and invest more in getting the word out about its offerings. Manocha said the group is also working on broadening its know-how to more hardware categories such as video cameras.
“The management team at Cashify has an excellent performance history in building a strong consumer-facing franchise and building relationships with OEMs, e-commerce companies and electronic item sellers to be present throughout all touch points for the customer,” said Pankaj Ghai, handling director of Asia Environmental Partners, in a statement.
Article curated by RJ Shara from Source. RJ Shara is a Bay Area Radio Host (Radio Jockey) who talks about the startup ecosystem – entrepreneurs, investments, policies and more on her show The Silicon Dreams. The show streams on Radio Zindagi 1170AM on Mondays from 3.30 PM to 4 PM.
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