Facebook co-founder Eduardo Saverin has invested $13 million (Rs 90 crore) in Mumbai-based online retailer Hopscotch. Hopscotch deals in baby care and children’s products.
Saverin had invested $11 million in the company a year ago, marking his debut in India.
“Hopscotch’s steadfast focus on this vision has paid off, resulting in an exponential growth of over 700 per cent year on year,” Saverin said in an email.”The team is frugal, cost conscious, and persistently focused on continuing to deliver strong unit economics while investing in scaling the business,” he had written.
Unlike other online companies such as Amazon and Flipkart that get the bulk of their segment revenue from diapers and baby accessories, Hopscotch focuses on lifestyle products that offer significantly higher margins and a bigger basket size.
Rivals such as Firstcry and Babyoye follow the inventory and catalogue model to reach customers, while Hopscotch has a flash sales model, sourcing nearly 3,000 brands. A third of its sales come from private-label brands.
The company also counts Singapore-based Lion Rock Capital and individuals such as Nisaba Godrej, Diapers.com CTO Wei Yan and Annus as early investors. The company, which has expanded its technology team to 50 over the past nine months, expects to break even by the end of 2016.
Singapore-based Saverin, with a net worth of $6.5 billion, has been a prolific angel investor in technology startups in Southeast Asia and North America in the past few years. He is also chairman of the advisory board at Velos Partners, which primarily invests in consumer and technology companies.
Saverin has been a prolific angel investor in technology startups in Southeast Asia and North America
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