Web Check: Hits & Misses of 2014

It was a happy year for e-tailer giant Snapdeal.com. The company raised nearly $1 billion and some of the big investors on board. Some of them include Ratan Tata, Azim Premji and Softbank. The e-Commerce giant had an aggressive expansion plan, which included expanding their product portfolio and entering new partnerships.

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Even though it was in news for its flop mega sale on October 1, 2014, loyalists still vouch for its quality of services. The company won the trust of its investors and raised funds worth $500 million to $ 600 million from its third round of financing. Besides, raising funds for itself, the company also gave wings to another Chennai start-up, Ather Energy, and invested $1 million in it recently. The firm has also been in the news for offering the highest number of jobs to IIT graduates.

The US online retailer finally entered the Indian shores. And since then it has been giving a tough competition to our domestic players. With a long term focus on the Indian market, the company has been strategically building its market in the country. The company has already pledged to invest $2 billion in India and plans to aggressively expand its operations across the country.

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This little known e-tailer has raised $15 million in its first two rounds of funding and received its third round of funding this year. The firm reached $1,500 crore mark in sales by the end of October this year and is expected to touch another milestone of Rs 3,000 crore by the end of this fiscal year. The company aims to raise its fourth round worth $100 million next year.

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It was one of the very first e-Commerce companies that offered variety of products to the consumers. This year, the company raised funds worth $10 million from the investors. It also got a new investor on board this year. The company is rapidly expanding its distribution network across tier 1 and tier 2 cities. It is also expecting to raise another $10 million early next year. The company is now focusing more on key verticals and has made substantial investments in segment such as apparel, gadgets, and accessories among others.

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The company had to revamp its entire business model after it failed to take off in the merchandising segment of the industry. The company had earlier found investors, but did not find any this year. The company has now transformed into a product discovery website wherein when a consumer clicks on a product, he gets redirected to the original website that has the product in its stock. The company had raised $40 million in the last few years and is still struggling to find its feet in the industry.

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While it came out with interesting offers to capture a larger chunk of the target audience, the company could not live up to its expectations. To top it all, the co-founder of the company, Amarinder S Dhaliwal, called it quits and joined telecom major Micromax as the COO of the company. With no vision in sight, the company may not find its existing investors interested in it anymore. 

Catering to a niche audience, this fan merchandising online retailer had to shut shops this year. Reports suggest that the company had to go offline due to copyright issues. However, the company has now made a comeback as a content publishing website which lets people follow other people and topics in trend.

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Yet another e-Commerce firm that targeted a niche consumer base became a casualty in 2014. Reports have suggested that the company had to shut shops due to its inability to raise adequate funding from its investors in the second round. Initially, the company had raised nearly $1 million funds in 2011.

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This was probably the first e-Commerce player in the country launched in 1999. But despite having the first mover’s advantage, the company failed to make a mark in the industry. The company had to shut shops after it failed to receive investments this year. The company had raised funding worth only $5 million 2011. 

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