B2B Procurement Startup IndustryBuying Bags $2 Mn Venture Debt From Blacksoil Capital

B2B procurement startup and a one-stop platform for business, industrial and office goods, IndustryBuying, has raised $1.8 Mn (INR 12 Cr) as venture debt from Mumbai-based specialised debt player Blacksoil Capital.

The New Delhi-based startup is backed by the Kalaari Capital, Saif Partners and Beenext. Founded in 2013 by Swati Gupta and brother Rahul, the company started as a marketplace for SME segment for their MRO requirement.

Speaking on the latest development, Swati Gupta, the CEO of IndustryBuying said “We are on our way to becoming profitable by the end of this year. This debt facility would help us scale further and would enable us to take care of our working capital requirement on account of increasing order book with blue chip customers.”

The founder indicated that raising of the venture debt is a strong sign that the startup has been spending money in a disciplined manner and it is aiming to generate profitability for itself as well as value for its customers.

Here is an overview of the startup’s achievements:

• 2,50,000 SME customers
• Directly selling to more than 800 large enterprises
• 7,20,00 SKUs across 40 product categories
• Net Revenue, IndustryBuying has grown 45% in past 4 quarters

Besides the above, the startup has also improved its EBITDA by 4X in the past three quarters and are close to breaking even. IndustryBuying has now ventured into its own branded products in segments where there is a large unmet demand but the presence of few branded players at the affordable price.

Today, IndustryBuying is leading the way in B2B commerce with close to 2 Mn monthly visits which are more than 2.5 times than its nearest competitor.

Given the credentials of the startup in the B2B commerce space, Blacksoil Capital which was founded in 2010 considers the decision to fund the startup as strategic since they have always been into the B2B commerce space.

“This one-stop shop has successfully tapped the much-required need of the industries with the positive response from their customers. We are excited to help them get even bigger and better in their journey, as they use our debt to invest in the growth of the business,” said Ankur Bansal, Director of BlackSoil Capital.

Since the beginning of operations in July 2016, Blacksoil Capital has closed over 20 deals by investing $2.6 Mn (INR 170 Cr) across ventures and structured debts till date. The promoters of the Blacksoil Group include promoters of established Indian business houses such as Shashi Kiran Shetty, Chairman of Allcargo Group; Gnanesh (Sunil) Gala, Promoter of Navneet Education and Mumbai based realty expert Virendra Gala.

The funding is predictably indicative of the boom in the B2B ecommerce market. There are projections that by 2020, the B2B ecommerce market is set to grow at 2.5 times from the present pace to touch INR 45 Lakh Cr. The global B2B ecommerce market will reach $6.7 Tr.

Considering the lucrativeness of the segment, there is a slew of startups working to exploit the market in India of which  Tolex, Moglix, Omnik, etc are likely to be the competitors of IndustryBuying. On top of this, major players are also entering the pitch for a share of the game. In January 2017, Amazon India came up with Amazon Business Services, targeting business customers and enterprises who make bulk purchases in the similar categories. Interestingly, Alibaba-backed Paytm Mall is offering a range of products under industrial supplies category.

Therefore, with the latest venture debt funding from Blacksoil Capital, IndustryBuying will definitely leverage its skills and expertise to capture a significant chunk of the B2B procurement industry.

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