Bizongo raises $9 mn, adds CDC Group to cap table

Mumbai headquartered Smartpaddle Technology, which operates packaging materials marketplace Bizongo, has raised $9.3 million (Rs 68.35 crore) in a growth funding round. 

Returning investors in the round included Accel, International Finance Corporation, IDG Ventures, Chiratae and Swiss hedge fund Schroeder Adveq, as per regulatory filings. 

UK government-backed development finance institution, the CDC Group, is a new investor in the round, having infused Rs 22.08 crore in the startup, according to data on VCCEdge. 

In January 2020, the startup had raised $30 million in a Series C funding round, led by Schroeder Adveq, to ramp up technology and expansion. The B2B marketplace has so far raised nearly $80 million, including the latest round, as per data on VCCEdge. 

However, the company, which designs, develops and sells packaging material to small and medium enterprises, faced headwinds due to the Covid-19 pandemic and laid off employees in July 2020. At the time, the company claimed to have paid severance packages to employees.

Founded in 2015 by IIT graduates Aniket Deb, Sachin Agrawal and Ankit Tomar, the startup takes care of the packaging value chain. It also offers a SaaS-based platform, Artwork Flow, to enable artwork management between teams. Its other software products include Desworks and Procure Live. 

The company claims to reduce procurement costs for packaging materials by 2-5% at the client end. It competes with Tiger Global-backed Moglix and SAIF Partners-backed Industrybuying, among others.