ShopClues was one of India’s pioneering horizontal e-commerce marketplaces, launched in 2011 by Sandeep Aggarwal, Radhika Aggarwal, and Sanjay Sethi. It was the first Indian e-commerce company to achieve unicorn status ($1.1B valuation) in 2016. In 2019, ShopClues was acquired by Singapore-based Qoo10, ending its independent run.
| Founded | 2011 — Gurugram, India |
| Founders | Sandeep Aggarwal, Radhika Aggarwal, Sanjay Sethi |
| Peak Valuation | $1.1B (India’s first e-commerce unicorn, 2016) |
| Current Owner | Qoo10 (Singapore) — acquired 2019 |
| Status | Largely inactive / absorbed into Qoo10 ecosystem |
Who Owns ShopClues?
ShopClues is owned by Qoo10 — a Singapore-based e-commerce company that acquired ShopClues in a distress sale in 2019 for a fraction of its peak $1.1B valuation. ShopClues had raised ~$300M from investors including Tiger Global, Nexus Venture, GIC Singapore, and Helion. All investors received minimal returns. See also: Flipkart.
History of ShopClues
ShopClues launched in 2011 targeting India’s value-conscious buyer with unbranded/low-cost goods via an open marketplace model. It reached unicorn status in 2016 but could not compete with Amazon India’s logistics investment and Flipkart’s GMV scale. By 2018–19, growth had stopped and investors ran out of patience. The Qoo10 sale in 2019 wiped out most investor value. ShopClues is one of Indian startup history’s most cautionary tales — a unicorn that lost it all to larger-scale competitors.
Key Milestones
| Year | Milestone |
|---|---|
| 2011 | ShopClues founded in Gurugram |
| 2016 | Reaches $1.1B — India’s first e-commerce unicorn |
| 2019 | Acquired by Qoo10 in distress sale |