Udaan E-Commerce Startup Raises $280 Million From Tencent, Others

Udaan, a homegrown business-to-business e-commerce startup, has raised $280 million (roughly Rs. 2,046 crores), it said Wednesday, as it seeks to serve more mom-and-pop businesses that are buying products online in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Udaan said existing investors including Chinese tech giant Tencent, Lightspeed Venture Partners, DST Global, GGV Capital, and Altimeter Capital participated in the fundraising, along with new investors - Octahedron Capital and Moonstone Capital.

The Bengaluru-based firm, founded in 2016, is now valued at more than $3 billion (roughly Rs. 21,920 crores), a person familiar with the matter said. A representative for Udaan declined to comment on its valuation.

"COVID-19 has accelerated the already fast digital-led evolution of highly fragmented and unorganised Indian trade/ retail industry," Udaan co-founder Amod Malviya said in a press release. “While at the same time, the pandemic also highlighted unique structure of Indian economy, with millions of kiranas and neighbourhood stores becoming the lifeline of our country at the time of crisis. Udaan is at the forefront of this uniquely Indian eCommerce opportunity, emerging in the last 4 years as one of the largest eCommerce platforms in India, while taking an India-first mobile-first approach to eCommerce. This financing enables us to further our journey of taking eCommerce to the depth and breadth of the country, with Udaan's unique low-cost model for core middle India.”

The company looks to use the additional financing in order to expand B2B e-commerce market and improve capabilities to serve small and medium businesses and achieve profitability.

Udaan, which offers everything from consumer goods to fruits and vegetables, has now raised $1.15 billion (roughly Rs. 8,400 crores) to date, the company said.

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