Infra.Market ascends to unicorn status after $100 mn round led by Tiger Global

Infra.Market, a marketplace for construction materials, has hit unicorn status after raising $100 million (about Rs 724 crore) in a Series C round led by existing investor Tiger Global.

Existing investors such as Accel, Nexus Venture Partners, Evolvence India Fund, Sistema Asia Fund, and Foundamental Gmbh joined the round, the company said in a statement.

With the latest funding, the startup is now valued at $1 billion (about Rs 7,245 crore), making it the latest entrant into the famed club of unicorns having a valuation of at least a billion dollars. 

Avendus Capital was the exclusive financial adviser to Infra.Market on the transaction, the statement said.

Tiger Global had also participated in the Series A and B rounds for Infra.Market.

In December 2020, Tiger Global had participated in the round when Infra.Market had raised $20 million (about Rs 144 crore) as part of its Series B fundraising from three new investors, Evolvence India Fund, Sistema Asia Fund and Foundamental.

In December 2019, Infra.Market had raised $20 million (about Rs 144 crore) in its Series A funding round led by Tiger Global. Other investors that participated in the round include Nexus Venture Partners. Existing investor Accel also contributed to the round.

Before that, Infra.Market had raised $3.5 million (about Rs 25 crore) in a seed funding round from Accel in August 2019.

Last month, venture debt firm InnoVen Capital invested Rs 50 crore (about $6.8 million) in the company.

Operated by Hella Infra Market Ltd, Infra.Market was founded in 2016 by Aaditya Sharda and Souvik Sengupta as a procurement marketplace that leverages technology to provide an enhanced procurement experience for all players in the construction ecosystem. The company provides products such as ready-mix concrete, fly ash and construction chemicals.

The company caters to both institutional customers (B2B) and retail outlets (D2R) in the construction materials sector. It supplies across 10 states in India and exports to markets such as Dubai, Singapore, Bangladesh, etc.

Infra.Market has clocked $180 million (about Rs 1,304 crore) in annualised gross merchandise value and aims to touch $400 million (about Rs 2,173 crore) by March. The startup claims to have been net profitable since its inception.

It is targeting the $140 billion (about Rs 10 trillion) construction materials market with a strong focus on the infrastructure sector.

Infra.Market is expected to significantly benefit from the 34% increase in allocation for infrastructure projects in the 2021 Union Budget of India, the company said.

“We are seeing rapid acceleration in demand as infrastructure and real estate companies are looking to shift their procurement to get consistent quality and minimise delays,” said founder Sengupta.

Infra.Market focuses on high-volume construction products under its own brands and aims to solve existing issues such as lack of price transparency, unreliable quality, a fragmented vendor base and inefficient logistics.

Infra.Market is growing four times year-on-year and has best-in-class profitability and return on capital among all B2B commerce companies in India, as more than two-thirds of sales are contributed by the company’s own brands. The company has also seen exports soaring to over 10% of sales within the first year of export operations, the company statement added.