B2B marketplace Udaan raises $50 mn

Bengaluru-based Hiveloop Technology Pvt. Ltd, which operates business-to-business e-commerce platform Udaan, has raised a $50-million (Rs 324 crore) Series B round from new and existing investors, a top company executive told TechCircle

Existing investor Lightspeed Venture Partners and new investor, Russian millionaire Yuri Milner’s Apoletto Fund, led the round. Both the US and India investment vehicles of Lightspeed participated in this round. Lightspeed pumped in $30-35 million, while Milner’s Apoletto Fund accounted for the rest.

In a telephonic interaction, Hiveloop co-founder Sujeet Kumar told TechCircle that the capital will be primarily be used to upgrade the tech platform, backend and logistics infrastructure.

In November 2016, the company had raised $10 million from Lightspeed Venture Partners.

The recent transaction happens to be one of the largest funding rounds for a venture in the larger B2B e-commerce space.

The development was reported by several publications earlier in thee day.

Last August, Just Buy Live Enterprise Pvt. Ltd, an e-distributor connecting shopkeepers with consumer brands, had raised $100 million (Rs 640 crore) in Series B funding from Dubai-based investment banking firm Ali Cloud Investment.

Udaan was founded in 2016 by former Flipkart employees Kumar, Amod Malviya and Vaibhav Gupta. The mobile app caters to small and medium businesses, and helps traders, wholesalers, retailers and manufacturers connect on a single platform.

Udaan helps businesses discover customers, suppliers and products across categories, and connect directly with each other for the best deal. The platform also facilitates buying and selling with secure payments and smooth logistics. It also offers escrow protection for seamless payments and round-the-clock seller and buyer support, including logistics.

The company, which follows an asset light model, currently operates across fashion, electronics and staples and fast-moving consumer goods segments.

Malviya was the chief technology officer at Flipkart, while Kumar headed the homegrown e-commerce major’s WS Retail, and Gupta served as senior vice-president, finance.

According to the company’s filings with the Registrar of Companies, Udaan posted gross revenue of Rs 1.69 crore in 2016-17, but did not generate any operational revenue, given that it was incorporated in June 2016. The company had started its formal operations during the second half of the calendar year.

Udaan had incurred gross expenditure of Rs 7.57 crore, with employee expenses accounting for Rs 3.08 crore, while administrative overheads, including other expenses, were at Rs 4.43 crore. The company incurred net losses of Rs 5.88 crore during the fiscal year.

The B2B e-commerce space has witnessed a few major deals in the recent past. Earlier this month, mobile B2B marketplace Wydr had raised an undisclosed amount from its existing investors, while Bengaluru-based Sabonka Technologies Pvt. Ltd, which runs Shotang, had raised Rs 5.5 crore from existing investors.