Cloud-based inventory management startup Browntape raises close to $1 M from Seedfund & Krishnan Ganesh

(With inputs from cloud expert Janakiram MSV)

Goa-based Browntape, a cloud-based software which helps online merchants manage their orders and inventory for multiple e-commerce marketplaces, has raised an undisclosed amount of investment (around $ 1 million) from Seedfund and serial entrepreneur Krishnan Ganesh.

Following the investment, Seedfund partner Paula Mariwala has joined the company’s board. “We will use the fund for sprucing up technology, expanding its sales and marketing team in various cities, and hiring.

Sellers can track the status of their orders and bulk print shipping labels, invoices through Browntape. These entire functions manifest on one screen through a multi-channel order fulfilment software. For a Browntape user, when an item sells on one online store, the stock quantity gets updated on all his other online stores automatically. The data is also updated at the seller’s inventory records.

"The funding feels a bit like our rocket is now filled with rocket fuel ready to be launched on its mission to improve the lives of online sellers in India. It will allow us to expand our technology and sales teams and let us grow much faster. There certainly is a substantial demand in the ecommerce market for what we are doing as has been proven by the recent traction that we have seen since we launched publicly in August last year. With the recent growth of online marketplaces in India, the potential for an ecommerce enabler like Browntape is great,” said Piyush Goel, Co-founder, Browntape.

Cloud expert Janakiram commented,

With all major eCommerce players transforming into an online marketplace, Browntape seems to address the key pain point of the sellers. It is trying to become the meta-marketplace. If they get it right, this has the potential of becoming the equivalent of single-sign-on for the entities within the ecommerce ecosystem.

Besides this, Browntape has an enterprise model which allows it to appoint an expert who acts as a partner for the retailer and helps them grow their sales from the online channels. This model is especially crafted for large brands and retailers who have little or no experience of jump-starting and scaling sales on multiple online marketplaces.

Founded by Piyush Goel and Gurpreet Singh in 2012, Browntape was part of GSF accelerator’s second batch. Merchants can start using Browntape software by paying a nominal fee only after they start to process more than 100 orders a month.

Browntape competes with Nexus Venture Partners backed order management and fulfilment platform Unicommerce and Delhi-based Primaseller.

At present, Browntape has 500 plus sellers onboard which includes well-known names like Organic India, Shree Ganga Depot, and a large multi-retail brand CMM Retail, owned by the Rs 300-crore CMM Group, with both offline and online presence.