UpScalio raises $42.5 mn to build Thrasio-style aggregator model for digital brands

Gurugram-headquartered UpScalio, which aggregates and invests in e-commerce brands has raised $42.5 million (about Rs 315.7 crore) in a Series A round of funding led by Presight Capital and an undisclosed global hedge fund.  

Heliad Equity partners, MPGI, 468 Capital and Whiteboard Capital also chipped in, according to a statement. 

The round also saw commitments from prominent angel investors including CEO of BharatPe Suhail Sameer, cofounder of ShopClues Radhika Ghai. CEO of OYO India and Southeast Asia Rohit Kapoor, Arjun Vaidya, founder of Dr Vaidya’s and Erik Podzuweit, founder at Scalable Capital. 

Five-month-old UpScalio is the latest entrant to the Thrasio-model which has drawn keen investor interest over the past few months. Massachusetts headquartered startup unicorn Thrasio acquires and scales brands to sell on ecommerce platforms. In India, Mensa Brands founded by former CEO of Myntra Ananth Narayanan, FirstCry backed GlobalBees and Fireside backed 10Club, among others have adopted a similar model.  

Founded in April 2021, UpScalio provides funds to digital brands selling on ecommerce marketplaces like Amazon, Myntra, Flipkart and Nykaa and manages key operations for them including multi-marketplace management, digital marketing, branding, logistics, sourcing, finance and business operations.  

The company was founded by former consultant at McKinsey & Company Gautam Kshatriya, Saaim Khan, former consultant at Bain & Company and former marketing and growth executive at Purplle, Nitin Agarwal.  

“We are also humbled by the talented e-commerce entrepreneurs that have built resilient businesses in the face of the pandemic and are grateful for their trust in partnering with us to scale their business. We take this responsibility very seriously,” said Kshatriya, CEO at UpScalio in the statement.  

The company claims to scale the business for the digital brands by 5-10x, providing a full exit to the entrepreneurs over time. The company has built a team of 50 specialists across functions to facilitate the digital brands with scaling their businesses, with plans of doubling the team to a 100 by end of the year. 

According to the statement, UpScalio has also partnered with the SMB focused financing arm of OfBusiness and Oxyzo to provide working capital to the businesses they partner with.