New eCommerce solution provider, Graas, on Thursday announced that it has raised over USD 40 million in the first close of its series A funding round to launch a category-defining technology solution “Growth-as-a-Service”. Graas uses predictive AI to equip brands with automated eCommerce recommendations that impact their bottom line, driving profitable growth. 

At the helm of Graas are serial entrepreneurs and martech veterans, Prem Bhatia and Ashwin Puri. The AI engine helps predict trends and deliver actionable recommendations that span marketplace storefronts, brand.coms, social and conversational commerce, performance marketing, inventory management, warehousing and last mile logistics.

“While India and SEA are the fastest growing regions for eCommerce in the world with USD 200 billion in GMV, they still account for less than 10 per cent of all retail in the region. There is significant headroom to grow, however, brands are finding it increasingly difficult to manage profitability. Given the increase in number of marketplaces, revenue shares with various platforms, advertising and customer acquisition costs (CAC) and fluctuating warehouse and last mile costs, margins are under threat. Doing business has become more complex and Graas is here to offer the solution,” said Prem Bhatia, Co-Founder & CEO of Graas. 

“Graas’ vision is to demolish data silos, increase brands’ speed to market and create a streamlined, informed approach to marketing, inventory and content management - all in one dashboard. Our plug- and-play algorithmic solution gives brands the equivalent of an in-house data scientist. As a result, we are already seeing exponential increases in our clients’ growth via our solution and that’s why we have defined a new category for Graas: “Growth-as-a-Service”, added Bhatia.

Jinesh Patel, Managing Partner of Integra Partners, added, “The intersection of AI, eCommerce, adtech and fintech presents a multi-billion dollar opportunity in Southeast Asia and India. Partnering with Graas is exciting for us because they have not only seen this gap in the market, but have created a solution that defines an entirely new category. With the eCommerce market across the region seeing significant growth, brands are waking up to the fact that they need a scalable solution that propels their eCommerce business to greater heights, ultimately growing their bottom line."