History of Nepali eCommerce (Sastodeal Role)

SastoDeal is one of the pioneers of eCommerce in Nepal. It was started in 2011 (unofficially around 2010) by Amun Thapa and two of his friends in a small garage in Kathmandu. Amun had just returned from the USA with only Rs. 50,000 in his pocket. He tried to raise funds by pitching his idea to many people, but no one was interested.

Instead of giving up, he changed his strategy, he started inviting people to become part of the journey. Slowly, like-minded people joined him. Two of them were Sodhan Manandhar (CTO) and Sujit (creative guy). Together, they built SastoDeal as a completely bootstrapped company, meaning it was started without any external funding.

As the business grew, their team expanded from just 3 people to 20, then 40, and kept growing.

One major breakthrough came in 2016, when SastoDeal partnered with Televendtrum and the Lucky Group to sell Gionee phones. They managed to sell 150 Gionee phones in just one week, a huge success at the time. Impressed by this, Rohit Gupta, the chairman of Lucky Group, decided to invest in the company. SastoDeal then raised Rs. 50 crore from him, which helped them scale up into a Rs. 200 crore eCommerce giant in Nepal.

SastoDeal was also the first company to get a license to operate eCommerce in Nepal. They received it on the second day of license distribution. Later, Foodmandu and Daraz also got their licenses, but only after a few weeks.

SastoDeal’s journey from a garage startup to a major player in Nepal's online shopping scene is a true example of vision, persistence, and teamwork.

Inside SastoDeal’s Growth Journey

Amun Thapa feels proud that during SastoDeal’s peak, his team was able to compete with one of the biggest global players, Alibaba, which later became Daraz in Nepal. Competing against such a giant pushed them to build the best team, best processes, and stronger strategies, which helped them grow even more.

After receiving funding from an angel investor, SastoDeal was burning about Rs. 2 crore per month on average to run operations, marketing, logistics, and more in Nepal, especially inside Kathmandu Valley . As part of the deal, they had also promised an exit to the investor after five years.

Breaking it down further, they spent around Rs. 80 to 90 crore just on hiring and HR development, which was a massive investment at that time in Nepal’s eCommerce scene.

Interestingly, Amun also credits Alibaba for helping shape the eCommerce industry in Nepal. Alibaba’s entry helped vendors become more professional through training and made customers more comfortable with online shopping. This shift in mindset benefited the entire ecosystem, including SastoDeal.

From SastoDeal’s Shutdown to the Rise of Khali Sisi

After 12 years since it first began, SastoDeal was acquired in 2024 by Nepal’s corporate giant, IME Group. It was truly a rollercoaster journey, from starting at zero, growing to a Rs. 200 crore company, and then going back down.

Founder Amun Thapa shared two main reasons for SastoDeal’s downfall:

Chasing short-term growth by “buying” customers, Instead of building a sustainable model, the company focused too much on offering discounts and cash-burning strategies to attract users.

Losing focus on solving real customer problems, They were caught up in chasing growth and profitability metrics but overlooked the core value of a business: consistently solving customer needs.

Amun emphasizes that while numbers like growth and revenue are important, providing value to customers should always come first. He learned this the hard way from SastoDeal’s failure.

But that wasn’t the end of his journey.

After SastoDeal, Amun launched a new startup called Khalisisi, which has recently started gaining attention in the Nepali market. This venture reflects the lessons he learned and his commitment to building something more meaningful and sustainable.

Venture Capital in Nepal & SastoDeal’s Investment Journey

Building a company worth Rs. 200 to 300 crore through bootstrapping is rare in Nepal. But SastoDeal managed to do it, at least in the beginning. Later, it attracted funding from several venture capital (VC) firms based in Kathmandu, which helped the company grow further.

As of 2025, there are around 12 professionally operating VC firms in Nepal, all aiming to build the next generation of unicorns in the country.

SastoDeal received major funding from Dolma Ventures, a leading Nepali VC, which invested around Rs. 130 million. Apart from Dolma, other notable investors in SastoDeal included:NMB Capital, Ramesh Corp, ICT Group

These investments helped SastoDeal scale operations and become one of Nepal’s most well-known eCommerce platforms. It also marked a significant milestone in Nepal’s startup ecosystem, proving that venture capital can help local startups aim big and grow fast.

Lessons SastoDeal Took from Foodmandu in the COVID Era

During the early days of the COVID-19 lockdown, SastoDeal was trying to accept as many orders as possible, hoping to meet the rising demand. In contrast, Foodmandu took a more cautious and strategic approach. They limited their daily orders to just 100 and usually closed orders by noon, once they hit that limit.

While SastoDeal struggled to deliver many of the orders it took in, Foodmandu succeeded in delivering what they promised. This approach helped Foodmandu build a trustworthy and loyal customer base, even during uncertain times.

The key difference was capacity planning. Foodmandu focused on what they could actually deliver, while SastoDeal tried to chase volume without fully gauging their delivery capacity.

This taught SastoDeal a valuable lesson: a balanced approach between cash flow, profit, and growth is much more sustainable than simply chasing numbers.

eCommerce Economy in Nepal

As of 2024, the global eCommerce economy is worth $6.5 trillion, showing just how big the industry has become worldwide.

In Nepal, the Serviceable Addressable Market (SAM) for eCommerce is currently around $100 million. But according to Amun Thapa, this number has the potential to grow 10 times, reaching $1 billion, by the end of 2026.

He believes that with the right infrastructure, e-commerce policies, investor confidence, and focus on customer value, Nepal can build a strong, billion-dollar eCommerce industry within the next three years. The foundation has already been laid, and the momentum is building.