In 2011, a man named Siva Devireddy, then working in the corporate tech world, decided to tackle a centuries-old problem — how to get rural artisans and weavers direct access to customers without being crushed by the weight of middlemen. He saw firsthand that while India’s handloom tradition was rich and varied, the people making these products were getting a fraction of their worth because they were cut off from modern markets.
With this in mind, he launched GoCoop in October 2011 as a “social marketplace” — an online platform where cooperatives, artisan groups, and individual weavers could sell their products directly to customers in India and across the globe. The idea wasn’t just to build a website — it was to bridge two worlds: the craft clusters of rural India and the wallets of urban and international buyers.
The platform went through a beta test phase in 2013, and by August 2014, it officially went live. The mission was simple: give artisans a dignified way to sell, train them to handle the digital shift, and remove the price-cutting middleman from the equation.
The Rebrand: From GoCoop to GoSwadeshi
Over the years, the brand didn’t just remain an ecommerce marketplace. It grew into a movement. GoSwadeshi became their new identity — a name that tied directly into India’s history of self-reliance and cultural pride. This wasn’t just a brand change; it was a strategic decision to cement themselves as the face of the modern Swadeshi movement.
With the new name came a shift in approach: GoSwadeshi was no longer just about transactions. It was about cultural storytelling, awareness, and connecting buyers emotionally with the weaver’s journey.
Scale and Reach
Today, GoSwadeshi connects with over 350+ weaver cooperatives and artisan groups from more than 70 craft clusters across 22 states in India. They have over 70,000 handcrafted products listed — from sarees and dupattas to home décor and accessories.
They have shipped more than 150,000 orders — both retail and bulk — and serve over 100,000 customers, including B2B buyers in more than 100 countries. For a business that started with just an idea and a laptop, these numbers speak volumes.
The Business Model
GoSwadeshi operates on a commission-based marketplace model. Vendors list their products on the platform, and for each sale, the company takes a commission ranging from 5% to 15% depending on the type of transaction and whether it’s direct-to-consumer or wholesale.
But they don’t just give artisans a login and walk away. The team invests heavily in capacity building:
- Training artisans in digital tools and online selling
- Teaching product photography and cataloguing
- Helping with pricing strategies
- Guiding them in quality control to match customer expectations
The result? Many artisans have been able to sell at prices 20–30% higher than what local markets offer, creating a real increase in their income.
Goodloom: Their In-House Brand
Around 2018, GoCoop launched Goodloom, their private in-house brand. This wasn’t just another label; it was a way to create consistent, high-quality, design-led products that could stand shoulder-to-shoulder with premium fashion brands.
Goodloom collections blend contemporary style with traditional weaving techniques. They’ve been showcased at Lakmé Fashion Week, and prices are set to be aspirational yet accessible — sarees and apparel in the ₹1,500–₹8,000 range.
By creating Goodloom, GoSwadeshi gave themselves a dual advantage:
- Secure, year-round work for artisans
- Higher margins to keep the business sustainable
GoSwadeshi Exhibitions
One of the biggest differentiators for the brand has been its offline presence through GoSwadeshi Exhibitions. Over the years, they’ve conducted more than 90 exhibitions across Tier-1 and Tier-2 cities in India.
These events bring artisans face-to-face with customers, letting people hear the stories directly from the creators. It’s more than just a sales opportunity — it’s an educational experience that makes customers appreciate the craftsmanship and time involved in each product.
Funding and Financial Backing
From the early days, GoCoop attracted serious impact investors who believed in their mission. The backers include:
- Kris Gopalakrishnan, co-founder of Infosys
- Indian Angel Network
- Unitus Seed Fund
- Saha Fund
They’ve raised over ₹10 crore in early funding and later rounds.
There is no publicly available list of every corporate CSR contributor, but given their social enterprise model, it’s likely that some of their support for exhibitions and artisan training comes from CSR partnerships with impact-focused companies.
Revenue and Profit
Financially, the company has shown steady growth, though it is still a scale-up rather than a cash-rich giant.
- In FY 2018–2019, revenue stood at ₹16.8 crore, but they recorded a pre-tax loss of ₹3.4 crore — a common scenario for growth-stage social enterprises.
- As of 2023, estimates put their revenue around ₹13.9 crore annually.
Their focus has been less on immediate profit and more on scaling artisan participation and brand reach.
Authenticity and Quality Control
One of the most important questions in any handloom marketplace is this: Are all the products really handloom?
GoSwadeshi claims to have a strict onboarding process:
- Only registered cooperatives, verified artisan clusters, and vetted individual artisans are allowed to list products.
- The platform conducts quality checks before dispatching products.
- Vendors are trained to follow handloom certification guidelines.
There have been no publicly reported scandals about fake handloom being sold on their platform. That said, in any open marketplace, the risk exists if monitoring lapses. GoSwadeshi’s model seems designed to minimize this risk, but it’s still a challenge in an industry where powerloom imitations are rampant.
The Google Connection and Sundar Pichai’s Support
In 2017, Google’s CEO Sundar Pichai publicly highlighted GoCoop as an example of how technology can empower small businesses. This recognition gave them huge credibility and visibility.
While Google does not appear to have provided direct funding, the endorsement put GoCoop on the global map and likely opened doors for future partnerships and support.
The Bigger Picture
GoSwadeshi’s journey from a small startup to a nationwide movement shows what can happen when technology meets tradition. They’ve built a business that:
- Empowers rural artisans
- Maintains product authenticity
- Creates a viable commercial model for craft sustainability
They’ve managed to do all this while avoiding the trap of becoming just another mass-market seller of imitation products.
The Challenge Ahead
The bigger the brand, the bigger the temptation — for vendors and even the company itself — to cut corners for profit. The true test for GoSwadeshi will be whether it can scale without sacrificing authenticity. In the handloom space, one fake product can undo years of trust-building.
Final Word
If more Indian startups took GoSwadeshi’s approach — blending technology with deep respect for tradition — our weavers wouldn’t be just surviving; they’d be thriving.
At Save Handloom Foundation, we see GoSwadeshi not as competition, but as proof that ethical commerce and cultural preservation can co-exist. The challenge now is to ensure every product sold is genuinely handloom, every artisan is fairly paid, and every buyer gets exactly what they’re promised.
Because handloom isn’t just fabric — it’s heritage, and heritage deserves nothing less than truth.