Consumers today are also more connected to sellers through social networks like Whatsapp and Instagram, but the shopping experience on these platforms is often unsatisfactory and unwieldy. T
Ping, India’s first conversational community commerce app, raised $3.5 Mn in seed funding led by Elevation Capital. The fund raised will be used for platform innovation and development, strategic hiring, and for expansion across all metropolitan cities in India.
Ping was founded in July 2020 by Vartika Bansal, an alumna of Stanford Graduate School of Business and IIT Bombay. Vartika has vast experience in launching and leading business verticals from her stints at Uber Eats and OYO. Given the remote-first nature of the company, the founding team is spread across the country.
As a community-first e-commerce platform, Ping enables commerce and communication for agricultural producers, local manufacturers, home-based business owners among the various residential communities. Ping’s conversational app was inspired by the many WhatsApp groups used by farmers, makers and other sellers to sell directly to residents of housing societies.
Commenting on the fundraise, Vartika Bansal, Founder, Ping said, “The maker economy in India is booming and with the rising e-commerce penetration, a strong movement to provide, preserve and celebrate makers and their identities is emerging. At Ping, our vision is to augment this movement through an effective, conversational community platform that directly connects farmers, makers and producers with local residential communities. We want to be at the forefront in catalyzing the growth of local entrepreneurship by empowering these business owners to reach a larger pool of new and repeat customers. On the other hand for consumers, our goal is to provide a verified selection of authentic local businesses to purchase from whilst allowing greater transparency in transactions”.
Every city has many high-quality, consumer-obsessed makers who want to create their independent brand identity but are usually limited by access to customers. While they are skilled in their craft, they are not very proficient in generating and scaling demand. Some attempt to navigate the inefficient B2C and social-media channels, while others end up selling to B2B clients like hotels and high-end restaurants. Given the proliferation and reach of smartphones and social media, there are fewer barriers to entry to become a maker. Such makers want a channel which allows them to build their identity and brand, and control their consumer experience.
Consumers today are also more connected to sellers through social networks like Whatsapp and Instagram, but the shopping experience on these platforms is often unsatisfactory and unwieldy. Their key pain points include the tedious task of maintaining multiple WhatsApp groups, the unreliability of vendors, inefficient payment channels and tracking, and disorganized delivery services.
Ping aggregates all the local commerce message groups on the app and powers discovery of the most trustworthy and verified makers in the residential communities. Residents can check for and exchange recommendations, and buy together from the makers of their choice. They can also refer authentic local businesses/makers to be onboarded to the platform after a stringent verification process. This involves makers sharing the reviews they have received on Google and screenshots of WhatsApp chats. Further, on a case-by-case basis, the Ping team augments these checks by verifying credentials and certifications of makers as well as by sampling the products/wares. Makers and manufacturers have also benefited from the platform, e.g., over 50 urban farms in and around Bengaluru have seen great uptick in business by being able to serve groups of customers directly.
Ping is currently operational in four metro cities, Bengaluru, Mumbai, Gurugram and Hyderabad, and has more than 400 active residential communities on its platform and plans to add over 3,000 more. The makers include more than 500 businesses and individuals across segments, including baked goods, agricultural produce, pet supplies, home decor and more.
Mukul Arora, Partner, Elevation Capital added, “We are seeing a very strong emergence of makers of unique products across a number of categories such as fruits and vegetables, F&B, beauty, etc. Urban consumers are also increasingly opting for such unique products over mass-produced alternatives. Ping is making it really easy for consumers to discover and buy from these makers, while enabling makers’ to sell, build a brand and create and maintain a loyal customer base. We are really excited to partner with Vartika in this journey to unlock a new market.”
Source: Business World
