India’s digital economy has solved for speed. Payments are instant. Deliveries are predictable. Identity verification is seamless. For most consumers, buying something online no longer requires a second thought.

But buying something second-hand? That’s different.

Despite all the advances in digital infrastructure, consumer-to-consumer commerce in India still carries hesitation, uncertainty about authenticity, anxiety about scams, and discomfort around meeting strangers. It is this unresolved gap that led Ankit Misra to build Circle.

In a recent conversation with Indian Startup Times, Ankit opened up about the personal moment that sparked the idea, the ventures that shaped his thinking, and why he believes India is ready for a trust-first C2C marketplace.

The Midnight Realisation

In April 2024, Ankit and his wife welcomed their daughter. Like most new parents, they found themselves scrolling through online marketplaces late into the night, searching for baby essentials.

“Nothing sharpens your instincts like shopping for a crib at midnight,” he says.

There was no shortage of listings. But there was a shortage of confidence. Too many products felt unreliable. Too many sellers seemed anonymous. The effort required to assess safety and authenticity felt disproportionately high.

India had nearly 800 million internet users. UPI was processing over 10 billion transactions a month. Logistics networks were reaching small towns in under 48 hours. Yet something as basic as buying a second-hand chair still felt like, in his words, “a blind date with risk.”

The contradiction was hard to ignore.

By late 2024, Ankit and his co-founder Chirag began digging deeper. They spoke to over a thousand users across cities and segments. The responses followed a clear pattern. People were open to buying pre-owned goods. Many even preferred it for affordability and sustainability. What stopped them was fear of scams, of counterfeit products, of awkward meetups, of low-quality clutter.

The issue was not demand. It was trust.

Understanding the Indian Consumer

Ankit’s view of Indian consumers has evolved over more than a decade in the internet ecosystem. In 2013, when he launched an online sports merchandise store, convincing customers to trust digital payments was a challenge.

“In 2013, we were asking people to trust card payments online. Today, they trust a QR code more than cash.”

The infrastructure has matured payments, logistics, identity systems all significantly stronger. But one trait remains constant: Indian consumers are value-conscious.

What has changed is aspiration.

“Consumers want premium electronics, good furniture, branded lifestyle products but they want them at smart prices.”

Circle positions itself at that intersection of aspiration and affordability. It isn’t about pushing resale as a compromise; it’s about making it a confident choice.

Lessons From Building , and Letting Go

Before Circle, Ankit’s journey spanned analytics, fintech, and consumer products. At Mu Sigma, he built strong first-principles thinking. At Jupiter, he saw how thoughtful product experiences can build trust in financial services.

Previously founded Chase, a diverse mentor marketplace. The team launched multiple verticals from scratch. Some were deeply loved but difficult to scale. Others scaled better but lacked strong user willingness to pay. Meanwhile, free advice and content were exploding across social media and AI platforms.

“It wasn’t failing dramatically,” he reflects. “But it wasn’t winning decisively either.”

Eventually, they got acquihired by Bitclass and later they parted ways. That experience reinforced a key insight: timing and product-market fit matter more than persistence alone.

Building Circle Around Trust

When starting Circle, Ankit was clear about one principle: do not overcomplicate the solution. Focus on removing the biggest friction points in C2C transactions.

Circle introduced structured, high-quality listings to reduce clutter. It built verification layers using AI and tech-led operational checks. It enabled doorstep logistics to make transactions safer and more convenient.

“In C2C commerce, trust isn’t a feature you add later,” Ankit explains. “It’s the entire product. If you solve trust, liquidity follows.”

The philosophy resonated early. Circle went on to raise a $384,000 seed round led by Titan Capital, backing the founders’ thesis that India’s resale economy is large but structurally underbuilt. At this stage, investors were betting less on large metrics and more on founder-market fit, clarity of vision, and the opportunity to build a 10X better experience.

“We’re grateful not just for the capital, but for the strategic inputs,” Ankit says. “Early-stage investing is a belief-driven partnership.”

Culture Before Scale

As Circle grows, Ankit believes the real challenge is not scaling product , it is shaping culture.

“Culture influences how we serve customers. It’s more nuanced than scaling features.”

Circle emphasizes authenticity, speed, and ownership internally. Team members rotate through customer chat seven days a week to stay close to user pain points. Ankit himself remains deeply hands-on reviewing listings, building AI systems, refining user flows, and occasionally coordinating deliveries when needed.

“Nothing builds empathy faster than talking directly to customers,” he says.

In a post-AI world where iteration cycles are faster than ever, staying grounded in user conversations has become even more critical.

The Road Ahead

C2C marketplaces are notoriously hard to build. Cold-start challenges, two-sided network effects, liquidity loops, and maintaining consistent experience make it a complex category.

But Ankit sees difficulty as validation.

“The harder the problem, the bigger the opportunity.”

Over the next two to three years, success for Circle will not just be defined by numbers, but by behavior change. If buying and selling second-hand products becomes as regular and mainstream as buying new ones, the company will have achieved something meaningful.

India already resells. What Circle aims to do is normalize trust-led resale at scale.

For first-time founders, Ankit’s advice is rooted in lived experience: stay close to your customers.

“Don’t assume you know the problem. Listen. Observe. Keep refining,” he says.

Because in the end, the most meaningful businesses aren’t built from spreadsheets alone — they’re built by solving real frustrations in real lives.

Interview Conducted By: Arushi Agarwal