Exclusive: Sequoia-backed Increff gets new investors in Binny Bansal, 021 Capital

Bengaluru based enterprise technology startup Increff has raised nearly $3 million (Rs 20.88 crore at current exchange rates) in a funding round led by venture capital firm 021 Capital. Flipkart co-founder Binny Bansal also participated in the round, two people privy to the development told TechCircle.

“021 Capital accounted for more than half of the total investment,” said one of the two people cited above. Incidentally, Bansal is also an investor in 021 Capital. 

In a statement, Increff said that the funding was part of its Series-A round.  It added that the funds will be utilised for growth, to expand their customer pipeline, enhance its product offerings and foray into international markets. 

“Increff  aims to…. make supply very efficient besides providing for accurate demand forecasting at most granular level and just in time supply, single view of inventory , warehousing anytime, anywhere being closer to end customer. If supported by agile manufacturing, we can take inventory turns from currently, twice a year to 6 times a year.,” Rajul Jain, Co-Founder & CEO of  INCREFF said in a statement.

Increff (NextSCM Solutions Pvt Ltd), which offers end-to-end supply chain management solutions to fashion brands and retailers, had last raised capital in 2017. Sequoia Capital India had led a 13 crore ($2 million then) seed funding round that also saw the participation of industrial robotics startup GreyOrange and a clutch of angel investors.

Increff

Increff was founded in August 2016 by former Myntra executives Rajul Jain, Anshuman Agarwal and Nirmal Jain and former NgPay executive Romil Jain. Jain quit the startup in March last year to join retail and hospitality chain Landmark Group, according to his LinkedIn profile.

The startup offers a supply chain management platform that broadly includes verticals such as technology-led merchandising and pricing, design intelligence, fulfillment technology and services. It also helps mobilise working capital for inventory financing to its customers and provides centralised cataloguing and listing services. Its flagship products include ASSURE, a technology platform for fulfillment technology and, IRIS, a product that provides smart merchandising solutions.

In August last year, it was selected for Oracle’s six-month Startup Cloud Accelerator programme in India.

The company’s roster of clients includes sportswear brand Puma, fashion etailer Myntra, Reliance Industries owned etailer Ajio, online lingerie etailer Zivame and GreyOrange.

Recent deals related to the ecommerce enabler sector

April 2019: Bengaluru-based GlowRoad, an online platform that enables women to sell products in neighbourhoods, raised $10 million (Rs 69.4 crore when announced) in a Series B funding round led by Chinese private equity firm CDH Investments.

March 2019: Gurugram-based ecommerce focused logistics company Delhivery confirmed a $413 million (Rs 2,890 crore then) in a funding round led by SoftBank Vision Fund.

March 2019: NowFloats Technologies Pvt. Ltd, a software-as-a-services company that helps small businesses set up an online presence, raised Rs 25 crore ($3.6 million then) from existing and new investors.

February 2019: Techcircle reported that  Eunimart Multichannel Pvt. Ltd, which operates an artificial intelligence-powered cross-border e-commerce platform,  raised bridge funding from the UAE-based digital services company TMT Connekt.