As Amazon Renewed Exits India, Bengaluru’s Shofus Quietly Builds a New-Age Marketplace for Pre-Owned Tech
Bengaluru, (Karnataka) [India], July 16, 2025: In March, Amazon Renewed officially shuttered its India operations, leaving a noticeable gap in the country’s refurbished electronics ecosystem. But while one player bowed out, another had already been preparing in the background. Shofus.com, a Bengaluru-based startup founded in 2023, is now emerging as one of the few platforms looking to organize this fragmented market at scale.
In its first month post-public launch, Shofus facilitated the delivery of over 300 smartphones and laptops across 50+ Indian cities, from metros like Mumbai to smaller markets like Guwahati. While numbers alone don’t tell the full story, early users have pointed to consistent quality checks, transparent device grading, and customer support as signals that the platform may be onto something larger.
Leadership that Connects Tech, Trust, and Scale
The Shofus leadership team is a mix of technical depth, operational discipline, and brand instinct. At 24, CEO Kushagra Sharma is leading product vision and platform development with a builder’s mindset and sharp digital execution. COO Shashank Gautam, 23, is handling day-to-day operations and legal structuring, building the backend needed for scale. CSO Ayush Mishra, 24, is shaping brand and marketplace strategies across functions, helping the company respond to shifting market signals. CTO Abhishek Sharma, 35, brings long-standing experience in software architecture, powering the platform’s infrastructure and ensuring it stays stable and responsive as the user base grows.
An Attempt to Formalize the Circular Tech Economy
The idea behind Shofus isn’t new; used tech has always had a market. But the execution seems different. The startup doesn’t just list refurbished phones; it also offers open-box, gently used, and repaired devices, giving consumers more visibility into what they’re buying. All products undergo quality checks through an AI-powered grading engine, developed in-house, to standardize performance expectations and minimize returns.
“Used electronics are often treated like second-tier goods,” says Kushagra Sharma, the 21-year-old founder and CEO. “But with the right systems, there’s no reason a pre-owned phone or laptop can’t deliver value on par with new, both functionally and environmentally.”
The Bigger Bet: Affordability Meets Sustainability
India generates over a million tonnes of e-waste every year, and electronics are among the least recycled categories. Shofus is positioning itself at the intersection of budget-conscious consumption and environmental responsibility, a space that is starting to get attention from both urban millennials and aspirational first-time buyers in smaller towns.
With the company offering financing options, built-in warranties, and soon a buyback integration with Budli, its approach leans more infrastructure-heavy than the typical online reseller model.
Where It Goes From Here
Backed by a ₹50 lakh angel round and a founding team with backgrounds in AI, operations, and digital product development, Shofus is now aiming to scale both supply and demand. But instead of chasing quick wins, it appears to be focusing on building systems that can make refurbished tech a trusted category, not just a cheaper one.
