Business-to-business (B2B) e-commerce major Udaan on Wednesday said it has raised USD 280 million (about Rs 2,048 crore) in funding from existing and new investors, including Lightspeed Venture Partners and Tencent. Existing investors of Udaan – Lightspeed Venture Partners, DST Global, GGV Capital, Altimeter Capital, and Tencent – participated in the latest funding exercise, in addition to two new investors – Octahedron Capital and Moonstone Capital, a statement said. With the latest capital infusion, Udaan has raised USD 1.15 billion in total till date. While the company did not disclose the details around valuation, sources said the valuation has crossed USD 3 billion post this transaction. The latest capital infusion is additional financing to the company’s series D round. Udaan had announced raising USD 585 million in series D funding round in October 2019 from a clutch of investors, including China’s Tencent.
“The financing highlights the immense potential of the Indian b2b eCommerce market and market-fit of Udaan’s business model to the Indian trade market. The additional funds will be deployed towards continued market creation of B2B e-commerce in India, reaching out to more and more small businesses across the country and bringing benefits of e-commerce to them,” the statement said. Some of the key areas of investment will be towards the continued expansion of selection of products and categories available on Udaan, furthering user experience, enhancing technology platform, expanding SME financing capabilities and reinforcement of the supply-chain infrastructure, the statement said. Founded in 2016, Bengaluru-based Udaan operates across categories, including lifestyle, electronics, home and kitchen, staples, fruits and vegetables, FMCG, pharma, toys and general merchandise. It enables small manufacturers, farmers and brands to market and sell their products across the country.
Its network connects over 3 million B2B users in 900 cities to over 25,000 sellers. “COVID-19 has accelerated the already fast digital-led evolution of the highly fragmented and unorganised Indian trade/ retail industry. At the same time, the pandemic also highlighted the unique structure of the Indian economy, with millions of kiranas and neighbourhood stores becoming the lifeline of our country at the time of crisis,” Udaan co-founder Amod Malviya said. The funding reflects the long-term truly transformative and fundamental value creation potential that Udaan’s platform offers for the lives and businesses of Indian MSMEs, who are major job creators and form the backbone of India’s economy, he added.
