Bengaluru-based pre-owned goods marketplace Circle has raised Rs 25 crore in a seed funding round led by Nexus Venture Partners, with participation from existing investors Titan Capital and Myntra co-founder Raveen Sastry. Delhivery COO Ajith Pai also joined the round as an angel investor.
Founded in 2025 by Chirag Kataruka and Ankit Misra, Circle plans to use the fresh capital to expand beyond Bengaluru, improve its artificial intelligence (AI)-powered pricing and verification capabilities, and strengthen its logistics network and Trust Hubs.
The funding will support the startup's attempt to make buying and selling used products more reliable by taking responsibility for key parts of the transaction rather than operating as a conventional classifieds platform.
- Circle Reports Rs 25 Cr in Sales Within a Year
Circle operates a managed marketplace connecting individual buyers and sellers across categories such as smartphones, gaming consoles, cameras, furniture, watches, handbags and sneakers.
Unlike inventory-led retailers, the company does not own the products listed on its platform. Instead, it manages listings, product verification, payments, logistics, seller payouts and buyer protection.
The startup combines AI powered tools with human verification through its Trust Hubs, which handle product checks and fulfilment. Buyers also receive a three-day guarantee, according to the company.
Circle claims to have facilitated approximately Rs 25 Cr in pre owned goods sales within a year of launch in Bengaluru. It also reports more than one million visitors and around one lakh listings in the city. The company says sellers typically find buyers within three days.
These figures indicate early marketplace activity, but the reported sales value represents transactions facilitated rather than necessarily Circle's recognised revenue.
- AI and Verification at the Centre of Expansion
Circle's next phase will focus on improving product discovery, pricing and verification while expanding its logistics infrastructure into additional cities.
Trust remains a major challenge in peer-to-peer resale. Buyers may struggle to assess product condition, while sellers face uncertainty around payments, delivery and fraudulent transactions. Circle's managed model seeks to address these concerns by coordinating the transaction from listing to fulfilment.
The challenge will be to maintain verification quality and delivery reliability as transaction volumes and geographic coverage increase. Trust Hubs and logistics also introduce operational costs that a simple listings platform may not incur at the same scale.
- Competing in India's Pre Owned Goods Market
Circle operates in a market that includes classifieds platforms such as OLX India and Quikr, electronics-focused reseller Cashify and community resale platform FreeUp. Their models differ, but they overlap with Circle in helping consumers buy and sell used products.
Circle previously raised Rs 3.4 crore in a pre-seed round led by Titan Capital in November 2025, with participation from Raveen Sastry.
Nexus Venture Partners' investment provides fresh capital for expansion, but the company's next test will be whether its managed approach can scale beyond Bengaluru without compromising customer experience or transaction economics.
For India's recommerce sector, Circle's strategy reflects a broader opportunity: making resale more dependable by combining technology with operational accountability. Its long-term growth will depend on converting early traction into repeat transactions, sustainable unit economics and consistent service across markets.
