GradSpace

The Story

Founded in 2011, Poshmark started with a simple yet powerful idea in Manish Chandra's garage. Along with co-founders Tracy Sun, Gautam Golwala, and Chetan Pungaliya, Chandra envisioned a platform that would revolutionize how people buy and sell fashion. The inspiration came from seeing the potential of the iPhone 4 to create meaningful connections in the shopping experience.

What They Do

Poshmark is not just another e-commerce platform – it's a social marketplace that brings together shopping and community. Think of it as a place where social media meets shopping, allowing users to buy, sell, and discover fashion, home goods, and accessories. With over 80 million users , the platform has become a go-to destination for both casual sellers and entrepreneurial individuals looking to build their own digital boutiques.

Growth & Achievements

• Started as a fashion-only platform and successfully expanded into home goods and electronics
• Raised over $160 million in venture funding
• Achieved a successful IPO in January 2021
• Recently launched innovative features like AI-powered visual search and livestream shopping
• Built a vibrant community of millions of buyers and sellers across the country

Today, under CEO Manish Chandra's leadership, Poshmark continues to innovate in the social commerce space, blending technology with community to create a unique shopping experience. The platform's success story is a testament to how combining social connections with commerce can create a powerful marketplace that resonates with modern consumers.

Octobotics Tech is an early-stage robotics engineering startup focused on building advanced robotic solutions for the maritime and oil & gas industries, where inspection and maintenance are complex, risky, and costly.

The company is developing a next-generation marine and aerial robotic platform with modular manipulators designed for autonomous inspection and non-destructive testing (NDT), even on heavily corroded surfaces. The platform supports techniques such as Eddy Current and other NDT methods, and the core technology is already at a matured stage, not just experimental R&D.

Alongside platform development, Octobotics delivers robotic inspection and maintenance services, using specialized robots to navigate challenging environments and perform precision-driven tasks that reduce human risk, downtime, and operational costs. The team also builds custom robotic solutions, working closely with clients to address specific operational and infrastructure challenges.

Backed by a pre-seed round from a Hong Kong–based investor, Octobotics operates as a flat, non-toxic organization that values unconventional thinking, ownership, and hands-on problem solving. The company is now hiring its first core team members to help push the boundaries of applied robotics in real-world industrial environments.

Versatile Commerce specializes in providing comprehensive e-commerce solutions that streamline online operations for businesses. Our platform integrates various sales channels and back-end systems, enabling seamless management of e-commerce activities. With a focus on enhancing efficiency and scalability, we support businesses in achieving their online sales goals through innovative and customized solutions.

SDS Softwares is a UK-based web development company, which has more than 10+ years of experience in its niche field. The company provides services for web development, web design, mobile app development, eLearning, digital marketing, etc. Our services are not restricted to any particular domain. We have served a large number of verticals, not only with the best quality services but with values as well. Major business domains, which we have targeted yet, include real estate, TTL, health care, logistics, and hospitality.

Shopflo is an enterprise technology company providing a specialized checkout infrastructure platform designed to boost conversion rates for direct-to-consumer (D2C) e-commerce brands. Founded in 2021, it focuses on enhancing the online buying experience through fast, customizable, and secure checkout pages that reduce cart abandonment. 

We aim to supercharge conversions for e-commerce websites at checkout by improving user experience, helping build stronger intent and trust during the purchase

Problem statement -

(1) There is ~70% drop off at checkout for most independent e-commerce retailer (outside of large marketplaces)

(2) E-commerce cart platforms allow minimal flexibility on checkout, with their experience still same as the last decade

(3) Whereas user experiences are defined by new consumer platforms such as Swiggy, Amazon, etc.

There is a fundamental unbundling of monolith shopping cart platforms globally for mid-market and enterprise customers, who are moving towards headless (read modular) architecture.

Shopflo aims to be the global default for checkout experiences.