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

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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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