Former Flipkart execs' B2B e-commerce platform Udaan bags $300 mn in Series D funding

By Narinder Kapur

  • 03 Sep 2019
Credit: VCCircle

Business-to-business e-commerce platform Udaan has raised around $300 million (about Rs 2,166 crore at current exchange rate) in its Series D funding round from a clutch of investors including Altimeter Capital and Footpath Ventures.

Other investors GGV Capital, Hillhouse Capital also participated in the round. Existing investors that contributed to the round include DST Global and Lightspeed Venture Partners, according to several media reports.

People familiar with the fundraising told The Economic Times that the company could raise over $500 million in the ongoing round at a valuation of over $2.2 billion. Chinese conglomerate Tencent is also expected to invest in the company, according to the report.

The funding comes a year after Udaan raised $225 million (around Rs 1,593 crore) in its Series C round from DST and Lightspeed Venture Partners.

VCCircle has reached out to Udaan on the reported Series D round and will update the story accordingly.

Udaan, operated by Bengaluru-based Hiveloop Technology Pvt. Ltd, had raised $50 million (Rs 324 crore) in its Series B funding round from Lightspeed Venture Partners and Yuri Milner’s Apoletto Fund in February 2018. Lightspeed had put in about $30-35 million in that round, while Milner’s fund accounted for the rest.

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

Deals in B2B e-commerce 

There has been considerable investor interest in the B2B e-commerce space, with startups catering to various segments as they seek to offer streamlined, efficient and organised procurement and supply chain services to businesses of all sizes.

One of the larger cheques to a startup in the segment was written for industrial goods marketplace Moglix, which raised $60 million (around Rs 410 crore) in its Series D funding round from US-based Tiger Global Management and others in July.

Last month, ShopKirana E-Trading Pvt. Ltd raised Rs 71.4 crore (around $10 million) in a funding round led by Info Edge (India) Ltd, which owns portals including job site Naukri.com. Noida-based Info Edge had said that the investment was in line with its strategy of consolidating presence in different segments of the internet services industry.