EP35: Re-Commerce, 1M Refurbished Mobiles & Chinese Investors {Mandeep of Cashify}

Stars & Startups

EP35: {Mandeep Manocha, Co-founder & CEO of Cashify}

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ALERT: Remember to participate in Donate your Old Phones initiative run by Cashify - https://www.cashify.in/donate-for-education; save the planet and support kids who are unable to participate in online classes.

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Have you ever wondered what to do with that old phone that you have sitting around? Or have you ever wanted to buy a second phone as a backup but didn’t know how to get a reliable one. That’s where this startup comes in. Cashify has seen demand rebound with COVID as everyone scrambled to get a second device for their kid who now needs to attend classes digitally.

Mandeep and I have a free wheeling conversation about the refurbished device market, working out of an incubation centre informally, building a waste management business and pivoting to the unsexy business of Refurbished and having 4 Chinese investors on the Cap Table!

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→ Full episode of the podcast is available on my YouTube Channel

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Over the 6 years Cashify is the official exchange partner for premium smartphone brands including Apple, Xiaomi, OnePlus and Samsung. Additionally, partnered with e-commerce marketplaces like Amazon and Snapdeal as well as offline retailers like Croma Retail.

They have been funded by Bessemer Ventures, Blume Ventures, Shunwei Capital, venture debt funding Trifecta Capital, and latest being a Series C of $12M from Chinese investors, that included CDH Investments and MorningSide Group, with AiHuiShou as a strategic investor.

Stay Safe!

- V (@varunvummidi )

Timelines:

02:48 - Introduction

06:38 - Rebounding to over 90% post COVID

08:40 - What's Re-Commerce?

11:24 - Managing "Reverse Logistics" & the Genesis of Cashify

18:02 - Lehmann Brothers crashing & the downturn resulted in Cashify

20:08 - Choosing Waste Management

23:50 - Similarity between Refurbished Phones & the Used car market

27:30 - Devices aren’t getting Cheaper; Premium phones are in

31:10 - Stocking phones is not a challenge!

35:44 - Bid Vs Buy models

42:00 - Building a Reseller Network

44:41 - Pricing & making money

47:15 - Scale of Operations & Ground reality post COVID

50:03 - Donate your Old Phones for good @ https://www.cashify.in/donate-for-education

50:40 - Kids are unable to study

52:48 - Going Global with the Cashify Tech

55:10 - Software is the IP

58:10 - Diversifying beyond Mobiles

1:00:46 - Challenges in the Journey

1:05:25 - Having 4 Chinese Investors has been an advantage

1:10:45 - Getting to 10 M phone a year