Blacksoil invests Rs 12 cr in 3 promising start-ups

Blacksoil Capital, a sector agnostic alternative credit platform, has invested over Rs 12 crores in digital freight forwarding start-up Freightwalla, UpMoney NBFC and D2C affordable fashion player Rapidbox.

It has successfully concluded over 50 debt transactions to VC-backed growth companies/start-ups by deploying more than Rs 500 crores in the past four and a half years.

Ankur Bansal, Co-Founder and Director Blacksoil, said the company has provided debt funds tailored for these companies to provide cash to meet the growth and working capital needs which are crucial for the fast-paced growth these companies are witnessing. “We hope to build upon these relationships to be their long-term partners as they scale manifold in a sustainable manner. Blacksoil is excited with the vast opportunity available for these companies to tap and grow exponentially in the coming couple of years.”

In regards to the companies, Freightwalla, established in 2016 by Sanjay Punit Java and Bharat Thanvi, operates a tech-enabled freight forwarding and logistics portal that offers planning, booking, tracking and automated documentation services for international freight shipments. Its technology removes the hassles of dealing with multiple middlemen. The company’s real-time price availability and tracking help reduce supply chain costs and removes blind spots for EXIM trades.

UpMoney, an NBFC, provides small ticket size business loans to MSMEs and two-wheeler financing solutions through a traditional branch model. The company was founded in 2015 by father-son duo Ajit Singh Chawla and Sumel Singh Chawla. It currently has 54 branches in tier 2 and tier 3 cities across Punjab, Chandigarh, Haryana, Rajasthan, Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand. UpMoney has disbursed over Rs 700 cr to date and has over 92,000 active customers as on date.

Also Read: Cipla Ltd doubles production of Remdesivir to meet unprecedented demand

Rapidbox is an online direct from the factory to consumer fashion brand under the affordable segment that operates in categories like footwear, apparel, and accessories. Established in 2017 by Arun Paliwal (ex-Flipkart) and Manoj Baranwal (ex-Dailyhunt). With in-house design and manufacturing, the company is able to provide good quality made in India products with the latest trends at an extremely reasonable average price of around Rs 400 through its android app. Rapidbox has shown tremendous growth during the pandemic, from delivering 12,000 orders a month just in Bengaluru, the company increased its presence to nine cities and has clocked more than three times growth in business in the last 12 months.