Upmesh

Upmesh operates in the social commerce sector, providing a suite of tools for merchants who sell products through live streaming on social media platforms like Facebook and Instagram. Founded in 2020 by Wong Zi Yang, Shawn Teow, Soh Jan, and Nhat Vu, the Singapore-based company aims to automate and streamline the live selling process. The founders initially explored building interaction tools for the streaming platform Twitch but pivoted after identifying a significant market need among live sellers in Southeast Asia who were manually managing orders and payments.

The company's core offering is a software-as-a-service (SaaS) platform that automates sales, payments, and order management for live sellers. Key features include capturing orders from comments, automatically sending checkout links to customers via messenger, and real-time inventory management. The platform provides merchants with a comprehensive dashboard to manage their operations, including product catalogs, promotions, fulfillment, and customer loyalty programs. Upmesh's business model is subscription-based, with revenue also generated through payment processing fees in partnership with Stripe. The target clients range from small, home-based sellers and mom-and-pop shops to more established live commerce merchants.

Since its inception, Upmesh has secured a total of $10.5 million in funding over two rounds. A seed round in October 2021 raised $3 million, followed by a $7.5 million pre-Series A round in December 2021, led by Monk's Hill Ventures. These funds were earmarked for regional expansion across Southeast Asia, particularly in Malaysia and the Philippines, and for product development, including a mobile app and enhanced backend automation for logistics. However, the company has faced challenges, including leadership instability in 2023 with several co-founders stepping down from the CEO role in quick succession, and a subsequent decline in revenue and profits despite a growing social commerce market.

Keywords: live selling, social commerce, e-commerce automation, Facebook live selling, Instagram live selling, order management software, comment selling, checkout automation, Southeast Asia e-commerce, live commerce enabler, merchant tools, social media sales, online selling platform, livestream shopping, automated invoicing, inventory management, community commerce, digital retail, social shopping, payment gateway