Lightspeed, Tencent, GGV join $280m round in Indian B2B ecommerce firm

Udaan, a business-to-business ecommerce platform, announced that it has raised US$280 million in its latest round of funding.

New investors Octahedron Capital and Moonstone Capital participated in the round. Existing investors include Lightspeed Venture Partners, DST Global, GGV Capital, Altimeter Capital, and Tencent.

(From left) Udaan co-founders Amod Malviya, Vaibhav Gupta, and Sujeet Kumar / Source: Udaan

With the investment, Udaan has raised a total of over US$1.1 billion to date. However, the company didn’t mention which round of funding the investment falls under nor did it disclose its current valuation after the fundraise.

Udaan’s last raise was in October 2019 when it secured US$585 million in a series D round from Tencent, Hillhouse Capital, GGV Capital, Altimeter Capital, Footpath Ventures, and Citi Ventures.

Founded in 2016, the Bengaluru-based startup operates a B2B platform that enables small manufacturers, farmers, and brands to market and sell their products across India. At the same time, it enables shopkeepers, kiranas (local stores), restaurants, street vendors, chemists, offices, small factories, and contractors to source from a selection of products at the best prices with the convenience of ecommerce.

The startup also operates a logistics-focused delivery service Udaan Express, as well as Udaan Capital, which is focused on small and medium-sized enterprise (SME) financing services.

The new investment will be used for the expansion of the company’s products and categories, improving user experience, enhancing the technology platform, expanding its SME financing capabilities, and reinforcing its supply chain infrastructure.

The company claims to have over 3 million registered users in 900 cities who are connected to over 25,000 sellers across the country.

The investment comes as major Indian retail player Reliance Retail forays into the B2B ecommerce space with the US$6.4 billion it raised last year. It currently has nearly 12,000 physical stores in over 6,500 cities and towns in India.

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Besides this, other players in the space include Flipkart-backed Ninjacart which serves the B2B market for farm produce.