Bengaluru-based social e-commerce startup DealShare has raised $165 million in a fresh financing round at a valuation of $1.6 billion, the company said in a statement.

With this, the three-year-old online buying platform for multi-category consumer products has entered the coveted unicorn club, the fifth to do so this calendar year after HR tech startup Darwinbox, edtech firm LEAD, analytics company Fractal, and mother care entity Mamaearth.

The series E funding was led by US-based investment firm Tiger Global Management, with participation from Alpha Wave Global, Dragoneer Investment Group, Kora Management, and Unilever Ventures.

The company, founded in 2018 by Vineet Rao, Sourjyendu Medda, Sankar Bora, and Rajat Shikhar, aims to use the funds to bolster its technology and data science, as well as ramp up its logistics infrastructure to widen its geographic reach.

"Our mission is to increase affordability and accessibility of high-quality products at low prices for mass consumers. We have created a unique network of more than 1,000 small and medium manufacturers in the grocery and essential space which allow us to enable our mission,” DealShare Chief Business Officer and co-founder Sourjyendu Medda said. “Majority of our consumers are first to e-commerce because of us. Not only are we spearheading e-commerce adoption in the country but we are also doing that with 'Atmanirbhar Bharat' as the key focus."

DealShare, which promises to deliver high-quality, affordable products to mass consumers, has a customer base of 10 million with a presence in more than 100 cities across 10 states of the country. DealShare is looking to add about 50 million new consumers in the next 12 months, Medda said.

The company, whose annual revenue currently stands at $600 million, expects to hit $1 billion in sales in the near term, and aims to then triple it to $3 billion while expanding its presence to over 200 cities across 20 states this year.