Supply Chain Management Startup Increff Raises $3 Mn From Binny Bansal, 021 Capital

Bengaluru-based supply chain management startup Increff has raised $3 Mn (INR 20.8 Cr) from Flipkart cofounder Binny Bansal and venture capital company 021 Capital.

Increff was founded in 2016 by Rajul Jain, Anshuman Agarwal and Romil Jain and is owned and operated by NextSCM Technologies. The startup takes an “end-to-end” view of the fashion supply chain and has developed a recommendation engine,  which ensures availability of the right products at the right prices and quantity for various locations.

It is aimed at improving efficiency in sales and inventory by leveraging data and technology through its two enterprise SaaS solutions (IRIS and ASSURE) and warehousing as a service (WaaS). The company says it delivers a significant and sustainable increase in sales and margins along with reducing the working capital for brands and retailers.

Further, it claims to offer efficient merchandising through tech-enabled and data-driven inventory management and analytics.

Increff counts brands such as PUMA, WROGN, Reliance AJIO, Myntra, MANGO, ESPRIT, Newport, Ruf N Tuf etc. as their clients.

According to the startup, the recently raised funds will be used to fuel its next growth phase, which includes expansion of the customer pipeline, product enhancements and foray into international markets.

The company also said that this funding will help it further capitalise on its position as a business partner to fashion and lifestyle brands and retailers and deliver a sustainable increase in sales and inventory efficiency, in this category.

Highlighting the company’s plan ahead, Rajul Jain, cofounder and CEO, Increff said, “Increff aims to become the most impactful technology solutions company in the world, focused on making supply very efficient – a) accurate demand forecasting at most granular level and just in time supply b) single view of inventory c) warehousing anytime, anywhere being closer to end customer”.

Prior to this round, Increff had raised $2 Mn in a seed funding round from Sequoia Capital and clutch of angel investors in 2017.

“Increff is a great example of the type of technology-led, disrupting businesses that we like to invest in,” said Bansal.

Binny Bansal’s Investment Drive In Indian Startup Ecosystem

Flipkart cofounder Bansal has been on an investment spree after quitting from his group CEO position last year. Apart from investing in startups, Bansal launched his new venture XTo10X Technologies in December 2018 to offer technology tools, learning and consulting services to growth-stage startups which are looking to scale up.

Earlier in April, it was reported that Bansal also invested in the recently launched India-focussed fund by US-based curated closed marketplace for startups and investors, AngelList.

Meanwhile, healthtech startup SigTuple has raised $16 Mn in its Series C funding round which saw participation from the Flipkart cofounder. Following this deal, Bansal will be joining the board of the company. It also invested in online-only insurance startup Acko.

Binny Bansal-backed 021 Capital is also looking to up its investment game as the Indian startup ecosystem continues to evolve.

This investment by 021 Capital came in right after the early stage venture capital fund made its first close of $32 Mn (INR 222 Cr). It was reported that almost over a third of the fund’s corpus came from current and former Flipkart employees along with Wipro chairman Azim Premji’s  Azim Premji Foundation as an institutional investor or limited partner.