Florintree Leads $3.5 Mn Funding Round In Ecommerce Portal LatestOne

Hyderabad-based online store for tech accessories, LatestOne has raised about $3.35 Mn (INR 22 Cr) through a preferential allotment.

Launched in June 2014 by Palem Srikanth Reddy, LatestOne deals in tech and mobile accessories such as Bluetooth devices, mobile covers, tablet accessories, cables, power banks, Android TVs, headsets, smart watches, CCTV’s etc. It claims to have over 10,000 products in its inventory and operates through its own fulfillment centres in Delhi and Mumbai.

Commenting on the funding, Chairman Palem Srikanth Reddy said, “This is particularly gratifying considering that funding for ecommerce companies is drying up. We are excited about the participation of Florintree in this financing round and their decision to join our Board. We believe that the support of institutional investors and the right investor mix is critical to the long-term success of the company.”

LatestOne is owned by Palred Online Technologies Pvt. Ltd (POT) which is a subsidiary of Palred Technologies Ltd (PTL), a listed company on BSE and NSE since 2004. The board of the Company approved an allotment of $3.35 Mn via preferential allotment at a price of INR 145 per share.

Florintree led and advised investors in this round of preferential allotment. It is a Mumbai-based alternate asset management firm. The investors include Mathew Cyriac (former Co-Head of Blackstone India Private Equity Business), Chidambaram Palaniappan (founder of Florintree), K. Madhavan (Joint Managing Director of Star TV India), and Bharat Sheth (Managing Director of Great Eastern Shipping).

Other participants in the round include Ashish Dhawan, founder of Chryscapital apart from another existing investor, Passage To India Master Fund.

The startup will use the latest round of funding for investments in additional fulfilment centres, brand building, inventory, building B2B channels and developing the managed market place further.

Last year LatestOne expanded its business model to a managed marketplace and claimed to have delivered more than one Mn orders, with an average of 3,500 B2C orders processed per day on an inventory-based model.

According to a company statement, LatestOne.com has a quarterly net revenue of about $2 Mn (INR 12.5 Cr). In December 2015, it raised $3 Mn (INR 20 Cr) from existing investor and parent company Palred Technologies Limited (PTL).

Earlier this month, Infibeam signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to acquire DRC Systems Pvt. Ltd, through its wholly-owned subsidiary NSI Infinium Global Pvt. Ltd. Other startups it competes with include GoNoise, Hi2Buy and ecommerce biggies like Infibeam, Flipkart, Amazon, Snapdeal, etc.