Roposo owner and content discovery platform Glance to acquire e-commerce platform Shop101

Glance, a lock screen-based content discovery platform and owner of video-platform Roposo, has announced that it is acquiring full-stack e-commerce platform Shop101. The acquisition will provide Glance and Roposo end-to-end capability for launching celebrity and influencer-led Live commerce, as the company looks to transform the mobile shopping experience for consumers globally.

With Shop101, Glance and Roposo will have access to a market-leading e-commerce technology platform, a comprehensive supply chain infrastructure and the talent base required to build the celebrity and influencer-driven commerce platform. This will also benefit Shop101’s suppliers who can leverage Glance’s 125 million+ daily active users to grow their businesses.  

"As leaders in the mobile content space, both Glance and Roposo are disrupting the way users create, discover, and consume content, making them the preferred platforms for top celebrities and creators to connect with their audience. With the addition of Shop101, we aim to make these platforms the top shopping destinations for millions of users as well,” said Piyush Shah, Co-Founder, InMobi Group, and President and COO, Glance. “With Shop101’s technology, partners and hugely talented team, we are in a great position to create this new form of mobile commerce on a global scale,” Shah said.

Shop101, founded by Abhinav Jain, Aditya Gupta and Kalpak Chhajed in 2015, is a full-stack e-commerce company that brings a network of 10 million resellers and 10,000 supplier partners together serving customers across over 2,000 towns and cities. The company that employs around 300 professionals is backed by Vy Capital, Stellaris Venture Partners, Unilever Ventures and Kalaari Capital.

Abhinav Jain, Founder and CEO of Shop101, said, "We started Shop101 as a social e-commerce platform with a vision to democratise entrepreneurship and commerce for the masses using a technology-first approach. With Glance and Roposo, Shop101 will now be part of a company that shares our goal of transforming the shopping experience for millions of consumers globally.”      

Celebrity and influencer-led Live commerce is touted as the future of e-commerce globally as shoppers look for the next level of the buying experience. As opposed to traditional e-commerce that is focused on efficiency, wider choice and convenience, this new form of interactive and influencer-driven commerce integrates recommendation tool, community, and entertainment to bring delightful elements of serendipity and discovery to the overall shopping experience. It also looks at replicating the fun of physical shopping on digital platforms, enabling the shoppers to interact with the brand endorsers and order products in real-time.  

This model has seen huge success in China accounting for over 20% of the total e-commerce sales. Even though it is still in an early phase in India now, the total addressable market for Live and interactive commerce in the country is expected to surpass $40 billion by 2025. According to a recent report by leading management and strategy consulting firm Zinnov, Glance has the potential to be among India’s largest video-first, Live, social, and interactive commerce platforms. 

Within just two years of its inception, Glance, which is backed by Google and Mithril Capital, has positioned itself as the world’s largest Live lock screen platform. Similarly, Roposo which has seen over 100 million downloads is used by nearly 1.2 million content creators.