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Shopyourworld.com raises first round of investments
Mumbai: Shopyourworld.com, a shopping portal showcasing products and promotional offers from the US and UK market, has announced its series ‘A’ investment.
The undisclosed funding was raised from the Singapore Governments’ National Research Foundation, a department directly operated by the Prime Minister’s office along with two leading Asia focused venture capital firms, iGlobe Partners and WaveMaker Labs. The company is expecting to raise a second round of funding of $15-20 million in the next six months.
With the series “A” funding, they are addressing the grievances of few customers whose orders were not delivered in time due to international shipping and logistical issues. The funds are primarily being utilised for executing ShopYourWorld.com expansion plan of building further operational and procurement capabilities, raising brand awareness, enhancing technology along with service levels and customer care quality.
The company which is based in Singapore with wholly owned subsidiaries in the US, UK and India, is primarily focused on importing products and brands from the US and UK and delivering them to its customers in India. It offers a range of over one million products from leading global markets. ShopYourWorld.com gives access to exclusive international products otherwise unavailable to the Indian consumer, enabling the customer to choose from a wide range of products and brands from developed markets.
The company has uniquely constructed specific algorithms to calculate product pricing, inclusive of shipping costs, exchange rates, customs duty and taxes in real time. All prices seen on the website are final, delivered to the customer’s door. Additionally the website utilises a three-tier server architecture enabling it to host a vast number of products at any given time.
The e-commerce market in India is expected to grow by 33 per cent to reach Rs 62,967 crore by the end of 2013 as per the Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI) and IMRB International report. The e-commerce market was valued at Rs 47,349 crore in December 2012.
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With 57 per cent single new users, Ashley Madison rebrands as discreet dating platform
Platform says majority of new members now identify as single
INDIA: Ashley Madison is shedding the “married-dating” label that defined it for two decades, repositioning itself as a platform for discreet dating in what it calls the post-social media age.
The rebrand, unveiled in India on 27 February, 2026, marks a structural shift in business model and identity. Once synonymous with married dating, the company now describes itself as the “premier destination for discreet dating” under a new tagline: Where Desire Meets Discretion.
The pivot is data-driven. Internal figures show that 57 per cent of global sign-ups between 1 January and 31 December, 2025 identified as single: a notable departure from the platform’s married core. The company argues that its community has already evolved beyond its original positioning.
“In an age where our lives have been constantly put on public display, privacy has become the new luxury,” said Ashley Madison chief strategy officer Paul Keable. He framed the platform’s offering as “ethical discretion” for singles, separated, divorced and non-monogamous users seeking private connections.
The shift also taps into wider digital fatigue. A global survey conducted by YouGov for Ashley Madison, covering 13,071 adults across Australia, Brazil, Canada, Germany, India, Italy, Mexico, Spain, Switzerland, the UK and the US, found mounting discomfort with hyper-public online lives.
Among dating app users, 30 per cent cited constant swiping and messaging as a source of fatigue, while 24 per cent pointed to pressure to curate public-facing profiles and early personal disclosure. Some 27 per cent said fears of screenshots or information being shared contributed to exhaustion; an equal share cited unwanted attention.
The retreat from oversharing appears broader. According to the survey, 46 per cent of adults actively try to keep most aspects of their life private online. Only 8 per cent feel comfortable sharing most aspects publicly, while 35 per cent say they are becoming more selective about what they disclose.
Ashley Madison is betting that this cultural recalibration towards controlled visibility can be monetised. By doubling down on privacy infrastructure and reframing itself around discretion rather than infidelity, the company is attempting to convert reputational baggage into a premium proposition.
