B2B ecommerce marketplace Udaan raises $300 mn in Series D round: Report

Bengaluru-based Hiveloop Technology, which operates the B2B (business-to-business) ecommerce platform Udaan, has raised $300 million as part of an on-going Series D round, online media publication Entrackr reported.

Citing regulatory filings disclosed by its Singapore-based parent entity Trustroot Internet, Hiveloop said California-based hedge fund Altimeter Capital and one of its existing investor DST Global put in $100 million each. 

The US arm of Lightspeed Venture Partners, another existing investor, has put in $45 million. Lightspeed India also participated with $5 million, the report added.

Other investors who participated in the round include Footpath Ventures SPV I ($32 million), a Cayman Island-based entity, Silicon Valley-based GGV Capital ($15 million) and China-based Hill House Capital ($7 million).

E-mail queries sent to Amod Malviya and  Sujeet Kumar, co-founders of Udaan, seeking more information on the latest development did not elicit a response at the time of filing this report.

The development comes a month after The Economic Times reported that Udaan was looking to raise $500 million at a $2.2 billion valuation from Lightspeed and  DST Global besides Hillhouse Capital and Altimeter Capital. 

It had also added that the company was in talks with other investors including Naspers, SoftBank Vision Fund, Tiger Global and Sequoia Capital, to raise the targeted sum. The intent to raise a big round was also attributed to its $15 million monthly burn rate incurred as part of its aggressive scale-up strategy.

In November last year, it raised $225 million in its Series C round of funding. The company had raised this sum from existing investors DST Global and Lightspeed in what was one of the largest Series C investment in an Indian startup.

The company was founded in 2016 by former Flipkart employees Malviya, Kumar and Vaibhav Gupta. The firm caters to small and medium businesses. It connects traders, wholesalers, retailers and manufacturers on a single platform via a mobile app.

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 logistics. It also offers escrow protection for seamless payments and round-the-clock seller and buyer support.

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

Malviya was the chief technology officer at Flipkart, Kumar headed the homegrown ecommerce major’s in-house vendor WS Retail and Gupta served as senior vice president of finance.