Bengaluru-based Udaan raises $585 million in Series D funding
What's the story
Udaan, a Bengaluru-based B2B start-up by former Flipkart executives, has raised $585 million in Series D funding round. The investment, which is company's biggest till date, has taken its valuation to nearly $2.8 billion. The funding comes from Tencent, Altimeter Capital, Hillhouse Capital, GGV Capital, Footpath Ventures, and Citi Ventures, along with existing investors Lightspeed Venture Partners and DST Global.
Quote
Here's what Tencent's President said on the investment
Commenting on his latest investment, Martin Lau, Tencent's President, said, "Udaan represents a powerful example of how technology can empower the business of small merchants, improve the efficiency of industries and bring benefits to consumers." Notably, Udaan is one of the fastest start-ups to achieve unicorn status (valuation = $1 billion).
Udaan
What exactly does Udaan do
Udaan was founded by three IITians and former Flipkart executives, Amod Malviya, Sujeet Kumar and Vaibhav Gupta, in 2016. The company is an e-marketplace that helps small businesses by connecting retailers with wholesalers. The start-up works across categories including electronics, pharmacy, home and kitchen products, clothing, and footwear.
Investment
A look at the previous investments
Now, with the latest round of investment, the total funding raised by Udaan since 2016 comes to $870 million. To recall, the company's last round of funding had happened in September 2018 wherein it had raised $225 million in Series C round from investors including DST Global and Lightspeed Venture Partners. Meanwhile, its total valuation now stands at around $2.5-3 billion.
Future plans
What Udaan plans to do with the fresh funds?
Presently, Udaan connects 25,000 wholesalers to approximately 3 million retailers across the country. Talking about company's future plans, co-founder Vaibhav Gupta said "We will continue to focus on growing the marketplace - adding more buyers, sellers, bringing in more categories on the platform and investing around building capabilities in fulfilment, delivery, lending, marketing, category management and core technology."