Today is a special day for all of us at Elevation Capital as Meesho becomes India's first horizontal e-commerce platform to go public. A proof point that Indian e-commerce could support a radically different model built for hundreds of millions of shoppers.
Last week, I had the privilege of capturing the Elevation-Meesho story with Mukul Arora and Vidit Aatrey. We went back to the exact restaurant where they first met in June 2017, the meeting that led to Elevation writing Meesho's Series A check. They hadn't been back together to that place since that day.
That day in June 2017, he had another investor meeting scheduled. An investor showing serious interest, higher probability of converting. But Mukul's schedule only had one slot. So Vidit made a choice. He cancelled the other meeting.
That decision changed everything. The footage we captured last week isn't a polished corporate retrospective. It's raw. It's two people reflecting on a partnership that shaped everything.
What I admire most about Meesho is how relentlessly unconventional they've been at every turn. When everyone said you need commission to make marketplaces work, they went zero commission. Pivoting from reseller-first to consumer-first pivot at $2 billion valuation. Asset-light logistics when everyone said go heavy.
Every received wisdom was tested against first principles. They stayed rigid on mission (democratize internet commerce) and flexible on everything else.
Congratulations to Vidit, Sanjeev, and the entire Meesho team. Today's a landmark. Tomorrow, back to the mission.