Meet Vidit Aatrey and Sanjeev Barnwal, IIT Delhi alumni who built Rs 40,000 crore company

Written By Raunak Jain | Updated: Apr 10, 2023, 09:35 PM IST

IIT alumni founded Meesho to empower small businesses and housewives via social commerce.

Meet Vidit Aatrey and Sanjeev Barnwal, the IIT Delhi alumni who founded Meesho, a social commerce platform that has become a game-changer in the e-commerce industry. Their journey began a few years after graduating when they founded a hyperlocal, on-demand fashion marketplace. The startup failed, but it gave the duo a valuable insight: small businesses were using social media to sell their products, but they weren't leveraging their own websites or listed on Amazon or Flipkart.

Recognizing the limitations of Facebook and WhatsApp for commerce, Aatrey and Barnwal founded Meesho in 2015 to help merchants sell more efficiently through social media. Meesho operates on a unique model where "sellers" create a marketplace on the app, and "resellers," mostly housewives, promote and sell products within their social network. They link their Facebook pages to Meesho, chat with customers via WhatsApp, and send payment links on the messaging service to close sales. Meesho takes care of delivery and monetizes by charging sellers a commission.

People can sign up and launch their own online selling business with no money required using the Meesho app, which is available for iOS and Android. Meesho has aided a lot of people in becoming self-employed and seizing possibilities. Over 26,000 pin codes in more than 4,800 locations have received orders from the platform's 100K+ registered providers. Meesho introduces e-commerce to India by providing services to customers in more than 4,500 Tier 2+ cities and earning over Rs 500 crore for business owners.

Vidit Aatrey, the Founder CEO, explained that "Meesho" stands for "Meri Shop" or "apni dukaan." The social commerce platform has helped more than 13 million entrepreneurs start their own online businesses with zero investment, with the majority of them being women. Meesho has become a powerful tool for women empowerment in India, enabling them to achieve financial independence and contribute to the country's economic growth. Meesho's success story is a testament to the power of innovation and determination, and it is inspiring millions of entrepreneurs across the globe.