Mobile focused fashion discovery platform Wooplr raises $5 M from Helion Ventures

The fashion discovery app Wooplr has raised Series A funding round of $5 million led by Helion Ventures. The funds will primarily be used to hire top talent, expand the team and grow the Wooplr community as a whole. Following the fund infusion Rahul Chandra, Co-founder and Managing Director, Helion Ventures, will join Wooplr’s Board of Directors.

The Series A financing builds on an exceptional year for Wooplr which saw a rapidly growing roster of clients and market momentum in the fast burgeoning space of m-commerce.

Started in 2011 by four ex-McAfee employees, Wooplr helps people discover new products from stores around them through genuine recommendations from friends and other social influencers through an app. Wooplr helps businesses with a credible online presence and provides them a platform to reach out to new customers through word of mouth marketing.

Importantly, it helps users with personalized feed of curated fashion products. At present, it has a strong community of shoppers out of which 80% are women, who share fashion inspirations and the latest trends on the go.

“We believe the market will continue to see a shift towards m-commerce. Wooplr is a powerful solution for the industry and we are excited to collaborate with and support them as they work to build a great company in an exciting category,” said Rahul Chandra.

The company previously raised $225,000 from a group of angel investors, including Rahul Khanna, Sunil Kalra, Vivek Pandit and Jaspreet Bindra. The Wooplr mobile app was released in December 2013, and is available for Android, iOS and the mobile web.

The app helps users share information about the best places to shop and eat at around your location at any given point in what’s known as ‘hyperlocal discovery’. It helps users discover fashion from stores around them that have been recommended by some of the notable fashionistas on the Internet.

Commenting on the funding, Arjun Zacharia, CEO of Wooplr, said, “The financial support and domain expertise of Helion Ventures and our angel investors will help us execute our vision even more rapidly and with focus.”

While we see a slew of startups evangelizing social commerce, most of them are curating offerings from e-commerce stores or suggesting personalized styles to users. Besides Wooplr and Pricebaba we don’t see serious startups solving hyperlocal needs. At present, Wooplr doesn’t have any direct competitor.

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