Bengaluru-based Business-to-Business (B2B) e-commerce startup Udaan raised US$30 million from Singapore-based parent company Trustroot Internet on March 23.
‘Udaan’ is a Business-to-Business (B2B) e-commerce platform, designed to solve core trade problems for small, medium and large businesses across India. It is the largest such national distribution platform of its kind enabling retailers and businesses to source merchandise from manufacturers, brands, white labels, importers etc. on a single platform. udaan brings to users the power of technology to grow their business.
Udaan was established in 2016 by three former Flipkart senior executives–Amod Malviya, Sujeet Kumar and Vaibhav Gupta. Udaan is ahead of competitors like ShopKirana and Jumbotail in business reach, and claims to have matched 20,000 wholesalers to three million retailers in more than 900 cities since its inception.
Last year, Trustroot invested $20 million, $5 million and $10 million in Udaan in May, June and July respectively.
In its valuation report in February, Udaan valued itself at $7.5 billion based on cash flows for nine financial years and equity infusions expected over three years. According to the same report, the firm passed a resolution to receive $51 million in an internal infusion from Trustroot; the latest funding is the first tranche of this expected investment.
“B2B e-commerce is a big market opportunity with 500 million SMEs doing annual trade worth of $600-800 billion” Udaan Co-founder Sujeet Kumar said in an interview last year.
The company is one of India’s most highly-valued and highly-funded startups, with a roster of high- flying investors that includes Tencent, Altimeter Capital, Digital Sky Technologies (DST Global), GGV Capital, Lightspeed Venture Partners and Hillhouse Capital Group.