After two years of long wait, wearable startup Goqii Inc has raised over $30 million (about Rs 212 crore) in Series B round of funding round led by Japan's Mitsui & Co. Crypto investment firm Galaxy Digital and Denlow Investment Trust also contributed to the funding round.
GOQii's existing investors DSG Consumer Partners, NEA, Edelweiss Financial Services and Cheetah Mobile also participated in the funding round. Paytm founder Vijay Shekhar Sharma and Tata Group chairman emeritus Ratan Tata, both early backers of the company, also contributed.
Bollywood veteran actress Madhuri Dixit and her husband Shriram Nene, and Neeraj Arora of WhatsApp are also among GOQii's early backers.
Based out of California and Mumbai, GOQii will now foray into overseas markets over the next 12-18 months. The company currently operates in India market, is looking to enter Japan, Asia’s second-largest economy, and by working closely with Mitsui & Co. it s expected to establish its footprints in Japan by next year
With this fresh investment, GOQii now estimated to be valued at $100-125 million, and has raised a total of $44 million in funding over seven rounds including this one.
Founded by Vishal Gondal, the former CEO & Founder of Indiagames, GOQii is headquartered in California, US with offices in Mumbai, India and Shenzhen, China. GOQii became commercially available in India in August 2014 and plans to expand its services to the Middle East, the United States, and Singapore.
Goqii is Gondal’s second startup. He had earlier founded online and mobile gaming company IndiaGames, which he sold to Walt Disney in 2011, in a deal valued at $80-100 million.
“Japan is a very mature market, along with being one of the largest insurance markets in the world… As part of the deal, we will be working with Mitsui to launch a local chain in Japan,” said Vishal Gondal, founder & CEO of GOQii.
“There will be multiple synergies with the Mitsui Group, within and outside India… We will be working with the different companies in Mitsui Group’s portfolio across India, Japan and Malaysia down the line,” Gondal told Economic Times.
In 2016, GOQii was at top spot in the wearable segment for the second quarter of CY 2016 with 16.1% market share, beating China's Xiaomi, a report by International Data Corporation (IDC) had said.
According to IDC India's 2018 report, Indian wearables market witnessed growth of 66% year over year and 40% sequentially in the second quarter of 2018.
Basic wearables account for over 85% of the total number of shipments in India. Fitbit has close to a 60% market share of the health and fitness trackers in India and more than 80% of the market for devices priced above $100. In the affordable segment, GOQii is the overall leader in the Indian wearable market followed by China's Xiaomi, which has Mui Band for India market.
Source - Economic Times
GOQii's existing investors DSG Consumer Partners, NEA, Edelweiss Financial Services and Cheetah Mobile also participated in the funding round. Paytm founder Vijay Shekhar Sharma and Tata Group chairman emeritus Ratan Tata, both early backers of the company, also contributed.
Bollywood veteran actress Madhuri Dixit and her husband Shriram Nene, and Neeraj Arora of WhatsApp are also among GOQii's early backers.
Based out of California and Mumbai, GOQii will now foray into overseas markets over the next 12-18 months. The company currently operates in India market, is looking to enter Japan, Asia’s second-largest economy, and by working closely with Mitsui & Co. it s expected to establish its footprints in Japan by next year
With this fresh investment, GOQii now estimated to be valued at $100-125 million, and has raised a total of $44 million in funding over seven rounds including this one.
Founded by Vishal Gondal, the former CEO & Founder of Indiagames, GOQii is headquartered in California, US with offices in Mumbai, India and Shenzhen, China. GOQii became commercially available in India in August 2014 and plans to expand its services to the Middle East, the United States, and Singapore.
Goqii is Gondal’s second startup. He had earlier founded online and mobile gaming company IndiaGames, which he sold to Walt Disney in 2011, in a deal valued at $80-100 million.
“Japan is a very mature market, along with being one of the largest insurance markets in the world… As part of the deal, we will be working with Mitsui to launch a local chain in Japan,” said Vishal Gondal, founder & CEO of GOQii.
“There will be multiple synergies with the Mitsui Group, within and outside India… We will be working with the different companies in Mitsui Group’s portfolio across India, Japan and Malaysia down the line,” Gondal told Economic Times.
In 2016, GOQii was at top spot in the wearable segment for the second quarter of CY 2016 with 16.1% market share, beating China's Xiaomi, a report by International Data Corporation (IDC) had said.
According to IDC India's 2018 report, Indian wearables market witnessed growth of 66% year over year and 40% sequentially in the second quarter of 2018.
Basic wearables account for over 85% of the total number of shipments in India. Fitbit has close to a 60% market share of the health and fitness trackers in India and more than 80% of the market for devices priced above $100. In the affordable segment, GOQii is the overall leader in the Indian wearable market followed by China's Xiaomi, which has Mui Band for India market.
Source - Economic Times
Advertisements