IPO-Bound B2B Unicorn Udaan Raises Funding From Temasek’s EvolutionX Debt Capital

B2B ecommerce platform Udaan has raised an undisclosed amount of debt funding from growth stage debt financing platform EvolutionX Debt Capital. This marks EvolutionX Debt Capital’s second investment in India, followed by the first one in PharmEasy.

The fresh capital will improve the startup’s financial strength as well as continue to drive its operational efficiencies with an enhanced focus on achieving profitable growth, it said in a statement.

However, as per an ET report, the startup has raised $35-40 Mn in this round.

As reported by Inc42 earlier, the startup is getting ready for an IPO in the next 12-18 months. While it had stated a timeline of 12-18 months, the latest planning indicates a further delay in listing plans.

On the other hand, founded by DBS and Temasek, EvolutionX Debt Capital invests in growth stage tech startups across Asia, with a focus on India, China, and Southeast Asia. In early November 2022, EvolutionX announced its maiden investment in API Holdings which owns PharmEasy.

“We are delighted to partner with EvolutionX for this round of funding. The efficiency enhancement and structural cost-optimisation initiatives that we undertook last year have already started showing results. Post achieving the milestone of positive unit economics in the previous quarter, we have witnessed robust growth in business during the last two consecutive quarters,” Vaibhav Gupta, cofounder and CEO of Udaan, said.

The startup will continue to invest in technology to further enhance customer experience and scale, Gupta added. In addition, it will invest in building additional capabilities to tap the potential of the kirana ecommerce market.

Launched by former Flipkart employees Sujeet Kumar, Vaibhav Gupta and Amod Malviya, Udaan claims to have more than 3 Mn retailers across various categories including lifestyle, electronics, home and kitchen, staples, fruits and vegetables, FMCG, pharma and general merchandise, on the platform.

Last month, Udaan had raised $120 Mn in convertible notes and debt from its existing investors – shareholders and bondholders.

In January 2022, it raised $250 Mn via convertible notes and debt from investors M&G Prudential, Kaiser Permanente, Nomura, TOR, Arena Investors, Samena Capital, Ishana Capital and Microsoft, among others.

In FY21, Udaan posted revenue of INR 5,919 Cr with total expenses of INR 8,742 Cr. It narrowed its losses to INR 2,482.3 Cr in the year from INR 2,518.7 Cr in FY20.

With the difficult macroeconomic situation bugging the startup ecosystem, many startups are choosing the route of team leaning to attain profitability. Earlier this month, Udaan also laid off 350 full-time employees in its quest to turn profitable and ‘achieve efficiency’.