Exclusive: Tiger Global-backed NinjaCart raises venture debt from Trifecta Capital

Bengaluru-based 63Ideas Infolabs Pvt. Ltd, which owns business-to-business (B2B) agri-marketing platform NinjaCart, has raised $2.87 million (about Rs 20 crore at current exchange rate) from venture debt provider Trifecta Capital, which is an existing investor.

According to the company’s latest filings with the ministry of corporate affairs, NinjaCart raised this sum earlier this month by issuing non-convertible debentures (NCDs).

News of the development comes after a recent report that Amazon is in talks with NinjaCart for an investment.

Two months ago, NinjaCart was in news for raising a $100 million funding led by Tiger Global Management.

Previous filings revealed that the $100 million round brought in new investors that include Steadview Capital, NPTK Emerging Asia Fund and US-based individual investor Clark Valberg. Existing investor Tanglin Venture Partners also participated in that round.

While Tiger Global accounted for nearly $93 million, the remainder came from the aforementioned investors.

By TechCircle’s estimate, NinjaCart’s latest valuation stands at $331 million (about Rs 2,301.6 crore).

Email queries to Thirukumaran Nagarajan and Vasudevan Chinnathambi, co-founders of NinjaCart, did not get a response till the time of filing this report.

NinjaCart

The company was co-founded in July 2015 by Nagarajan, Chinnathambi, Kartheeswaran KK, Sharath Loganathan, Ashutosh Vikram and Sachin PJ.

It began as a hyperlocal grocery delivery company but later shifted to the B2B segment. Farmers can sell vegetables and fruit directly to business establishments such as shops, retailers and restaurants via the startup’s platform.

The company, which has raised close to $150 million in total funding so far, counts among its backers Accel, Infosys co-founder Nandan Nilekani’s NRJN Trust, Mistletoe, Qualcomm Ventures and M&S Partners.

Three months ago, Bengaluru-based NinjaCart said it has expanded its operations beyond South India to Delhi, Mumbai and Pune. Co-founder Chinnathambi, at the time of this announcement, had told TechCircle that the company was looking at Ahmedabad as its next market and was assessing, among others, Lucknow, Kanpur, Surat, Baroda and Nagpur, as its next ports of call.

In a December 2018 interview, co-founder Nagarajan had told TechCircle that the company’s geographical expansion strategy would entail satellite cities after entering major cities. He added that optimising supply chain and becoming profitable in existing markets would be its primary goals over the next two years.

Recent agri-tech deals

• June 2019: Jumbotail, an online marketplace for food and grocery items that caters to wholesale buyers, raised Rs 90 crore (around $12.5 million) in a Series B round of funding.
• May 2019: DeHaat, a Gurugram-based online marketplace for farm products and services, acquired VezaMart, a platform that builds farm management solutions for farmers.
• May 2019: DeHaat raised Rs 20 crore in venture debt from Trifecta Capital.
• May 2019: Agri-tech startup FreshVnF, which operates a technology platform driven by machine learning, raised $2 million (around Rs 14 crore) in a round led by Mumbai-based investment firm Equanimity Ventures.