ⓘ Featured image details: Lal10 co-founders – from left: Maneet Gohil, Sanchit Govil, Albin Jose; Credits: Forbes
▸ Lal10 was started by ex Flipkart, IIT Madras, and DCE alumni in 2014 to enable Indian artisans & SMEs connect with global retailers
Noida, Uttar Pradesh-based B2B artisan startup Lal10 on Friday (13 March) raised $1.1 million in a seed funding round led by Sorenson Impact, Utah, US, with participation from funds including Beyond Capital, Pegasus Finvest, Upaya Ventures, Angellist Collective, Gemba Capital; and a number of angel investors including Slideshare’s Amit Ranjan, former Flipkart CTO Mekin Maheshwari, and Seedfund’s Pravin Gandhi.
Slideshare founder Ranjan affirming Lal10’s approach and model in a statement said,
“Lal10 is executing brilliantly to digitize and bring structure to the B2B Commerce Market for artisanal products. They have created an innovative model for artisanal micro-entrepreneurs from India’s rural heartlands – they connect these artisans to global retailers by digitizing their inventories via a mobile CRM solution. The team is high-energy, self-driven, with an innate ability to think & act from first principles. Lal10 looks poised to build out a category-defining, tech-driven, profitable eCommerce business, that also has a strong impact on rural livelihoods & employment generation.
Sharing plans about the utilisation of funds, Manit Gohil, co-founder of Lal10 said,
“Leveraging technology for the first time amongst the rural artisans/ SMEs, Lal10 creates efficiencies in the supply chain by connecting 1500 artisans to global retailers. We will utilize the funds to create a strong technology product to achieve supply efficiency and focus on more international B2B retailers. We will digitize 10,000 artisans in 2020.”
About Lal10
Founded in 2014 by ex-Flipkart, IIT Madras, and Delhi College of Engineering (DCE) alumni Maneet Gohil, Sanchit Govil, and Albin Jose, Lal10 connects Indian artisans and small businesses with global retailers – providing them with an avenue to earn a sustainable livelihood.
Lal10 – in numbers
At present, Lal10 has over 1500 Indian artisans from 8 low-income states in India and connecting them over 300 global retailers including Zara, Anita Dongre, Toast, Wills Lifestyle, FabIndia, Four Seasons, Taneira and more across 18 countries including.
