Weekly News Wrap: Lockdowns boost Pinduoduo’s Q3 revenues; Ex-Flipkart exec’s startup bags $5.8m in seed funding

And UK-based online fashion retailer Boohoo expands to India.

From Reuters:

Chinese e-commerce platform Pinduoduo beat Wall Street estimates for third-quarter revenue on Monday, helped by COVID-related lockdowns in the country that forced consumers to shop online.

The results sent shares in the company up 10% in U.S. pre-market trade.

Intermittent lockdowns and a recovery in consumer spending helped Pinduoduo and other Chinese online retailers gain business in the July-September quarter.

Pinduoduo said its revenue jumped 65% to 35.50 billion yuan ($4.99 billion) in the quarter that ended 30 September, surpassing estimates of 30.94 billion yuan, according to Refinitiv data.

Agricultural produce, consumer electronics and beauty products were among the categories that performed well, Pinduoduo Chairman and Chief Executive Chen Lei told analysts on a call following the earnings announcement.

From Bloomberg:

Flash, an early-stage startup established by an e-commerce veteran to target frequent online shoppers, bagged $5.8m in seed capital to defy a tough global funding climate.

The Indian startup created by engineer Ranjith Boyanapalli, a former executive at Walmart Inc.’s Flipkart, raised the funds from backers including Global Founders Capital Management and angel investors such as Binny Bansal and Sujeet Kumar.

Flash is creating a digital identity that powers shoppers can use across retail sites. The service seeks to make order processing, communication with sellers and the use of rewards programs easier for frequent shoppers. The company will use the seed-round capital to develop the product, hire and expand globally.

From Reuters:

Online fashion retailer Boohoo has said it was entering the Indian market through a deal to feature its brands on Walmart-owned online fashion site Myntra.

The UK-based group and its Dorothy Perkins and Nasty Gal brands will offer categories including dresses, tops, bottoms and footwear on the Indian site.

The three brands will be housed under a dedicated online brand store on Myntra to enable shoppers to easily browse across the catalogues, the group added in a statement.

"Boohoo, DP and Nasty Gal are poised to be well received by discerning fashion conscious consumers in the region," Myntra's Chief Business Officer Sharon Pais said.

Boohoo, which sells clothing, shoes and accessories aimed at 16 to 40-year-olds, had warned on its full-year sales earlier this year after its half-year profit more than halved due to worsening macroeconomic conditions.