Udaan raises $280 mn from new and existing investors

Udaan, the fastest startup to achieve unicorn status in India, on Wednesday said it has raised $280 million (Rs 2,045 crore).

US-based technology investment firm Octahedron Capital and Moonstone Capital joined as new investors in the round, said the business-to-business (B2B) e-commerce startup in a statement.

Existing investors Lightspeed Venture Partners, DST Global, GGV Capital, Altimeter Capital, and Tencent also participated in this round, it added.

Udaan, which is operated by Hiveloop Technology Pvt. Ltd, has raised a total of $1.15 billion so far.

The startup will use the funds to broaden its selection of products and categories, enhance user experience and strengthen its technology platform. It will also use the fresh capital to expand its small and medium enterprises (SME) financing capabilities and improve its supply-chain infrastructure.

Udaan was co-founded in 2016 by former Flipkart employees Amod Malviya, Sujeet Kumar and Vaibhav Gupta. It links traders, wholesalers, retailers and manufacturers on a single platform, helping them to discover customers, suppliers and products across categories and connect directly with each other for the best deal.

Co-founder Malviya said that the coronavirus pandemic accelerated the already-fast digital-led evolution of highly-fragmented and unorganised Indian trade and retail industry. 

So this funding will help the startup to take its e-commerce to the length and breadth of the country with its low-cost model for core middle India, he added.

Udaan has a network of over 25,000 sellers, connecting to more than 3 million users in 900 cities. India has more than 15 million small manufacturers, and over 30 million traders, retailers and service businesses, Udaan noted, citing potential for growth.

The startup had previously raised $585 million (about Rs 4,166 crore) in October 2019 Series D funding from a clutch of high-profile investors including Chinese conglomerate Tencent, Altimeter Capital, Footpath Ventures and Hillhouse Capital. The round valued Udaan at between $2.5 billion and $3 billion. 

The company’s valuation had crossed $1 billion in 2018, when it raised $225 million (around Rs 1,593 crore) in its Series C round from DST Global and Lightspeed.

Last year, Udaan invested around Rs 14 crore in restaurant management platform PetPooja.