Empowering India’s Entrepreneurs: How Vidit Aatrey and Sanjeev Barnwal Built Meesho
In the dynamic world of e-commerce, Meesho stands as a beacon of innovation and empowerment. Vidit Aatrey and Sanjeev Barnwal carved their own path, not by challenging giants like Amazon and Flipkart but by empowering the overlooked, small-town retailers, homemakers, and budding entrepreneurs. Their journey from a simple upbringing to building Meesho, India’s reselling unicorn, is as inspiring as it is groundbreaking.
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What is Meesho?
Meesho is a Bengaluru-based startup that has transformed how small businesses, especially women entrepreneurs, engage with digital commerce. From its humble beginnings as Fashnear to becoming one of India’s leading online resale platforms, Meesho’s story is one of resilience, reinvention, and the spirit of inclusivity.
Who are Vidit Aatrey and Sanjeev Barnwal?
Meesho was founded by Vidit Aatrey and Sanjeev Barnwal in 2015. They both are friends who started this e-commerce business.
Vidit Aatrey Journey
Vidit’s story begins in a modest household in North-West Delhi. He was born into a family with roots in farming, his father was an employee at the Delhi Jal Board. He worked tirelessly to provide for the family. His life was simple, grounded in middle-class values, and filled with aspirations of stability. He grew up in a neighbourhood of government employees, Vidit was expected to follow a conventional path, perhaps civil services or a stable government job. His father encouraged to aim high, and Vidit set his sights on IIT Delhi in 2008, unaware of the life-altering journey it would set in motion.
He was an average student, and later he enrolled in Electrical Engineering at IIT Delhi. It opened Vidit’s eyes to a world far beyond the confines of his upbringing. He saw seniors pursue careers in investment banking, technology, and entrepreneurship. It sparked a realisation: the world was brimming with opportunities waiting to be seized. It wasn’t an easy decision, but Vidit chose to break away from tradition. After completing his degree, he informed his father—he did not want to pursue a government job. Instead, he sought a career that was challenging and made an impact.
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From Corporate career to entrepreneurial journey
Vidit began his career as a management trainee with ITC in Chennai. Though a promising start, he soon grew disenchanted with the slow pace of innovation in the conventional industry. Meanwhile, friends in Bengaluru were immersed in the vibrant world of startups, experimenting with cutting-edge technology. The fear of missing out propelled Vidit to make a bold move.
In 2014, Vidit joined his friend Sanjeev Barnwal at InMob, a tech company in Bengaluru. The experience reignited his entrepreneurial spirit. In 2015, the duo quit their jobs and embarked on a mission to build something extraordinary.
Sanjeev Barnwal Journey
Sanjeev Barnwal was born and raised in the small town of Hazaribagh in Jharkhand, where career choices were limited to engineering or medicine. He chose engineering, though he wasn’t entirely certain about his decision at the time. He was not clear about what he was going to build as an engineer. His journey began in IIT Delhi, where he pursued a degree in Computer Science. It was here that his love for technology and problem-solving took root.
During his first year of college, he was exploring and trying to figure things out. It was during this period that he developed a keen interest in robotics, He made several robots and won so many awards, and he discovered different passions for technology and innovation. But Sanjeev wasn’t just a tech enthusiast—he was a dreamer who saw technology as a tool for meaningful change.
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From Corporate career to entrepreneurial journey
In their third year, he did an internship and B.tech projects. This is how he figured out that programming is something that he wanted to do. In his college placement he got selected for Soni he worked in headquarters in Tokyo, Japan for 3 years.
After a few years in the corporate world, Sanjeev realised his true calling lay beyond the comfort of a steady paycheck. He wanted to create something that would make a tangible difference. This conviction led him to team up with his IIT classmate Vidit Aatrey, and in 2015, he decided to return to India. Later Meesho was born.
How was Meesho founded?
Their initial venture, Fashnear, aimed to connect local vendors with customers. However, the idea didn’t resonate as they had hoped. Undeterred, Vidit and Sanjeev revisited their strategy. They realised a more significant opportunity lay in empowering individuals, especially women, to launch online businesses without upfront investment.
Thus, Meesho was born in 2015. Its name, short for “Meri Shop,” reflects its mission: to give everyday people a platform to build their own digital stores. Starting with small-town homemakers selling through WhatsApp and Facebook, Meesho began a journey of transforming lives. The idea behind Meesho was simple yet powerful: to democratise online commerce and make it accessible to everyone, regardless of their background or resources. In a country where millions dream of financial independence but lack the means to achieve it, Meesho became a beacon of hope.
Meesho’s journey hasn’t been without challenges. Competing with giants like Amazon and Flipkart in a fiercely competitive e-commerce market was no small feat. But Sanjeev’s and Vidit’s unwavering belief in their mission kept them going.
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Challenges and Growth
The road was far from smooth. Early on, shopkeepers didn’t see much value in Meesho’s offerings. But Vidit’s resilience shone through. They pivoted the model, focusing on homemakers and small resellers, and simplified the process of starting a business. The shift worked wonders. In 2016, Meesho was selected by Y Combinator, a prestigious startup accelerator, propelling it into the limelight. By 2018, the platform had over a million resellers.
In 2019, it achieved a milestone by becoming the first Indian startup to receive investment from Facebook. Today, Meesho is giving employment opportunities to over 1000-5000 people.
By 2021, the platform handled over 500,000 daily orders and became a lifeline for thousands of entrepreneurs, many of whom were women looking to achieve financial independence.
Who were the early investors of Meesho?
The platform attracted funding from global heavyweights like Facebook, Sequoia India, and SoftBank. With each round of funding, Meesho expanded its reach, improved its technology, and brought more entrepreneurs into its fold.
As Sanjeev says, “Success isn’t about the heights you reach; it’s about the lives you touch along the way.” And through Meesho, Sanjeev Barnwal has touched millions, proving that with vision, grit, and a heart full of purpose, one can indeed change the world.
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Written by Manvi