Quikr Raises $7.8 Mn Venture Debt From InnoVen Capital

Venture debt and specialty lending firm InnoVen Capital has made a $7.8 Mn (INR 55 Cr) debt investment in Quikr. The company will use the newly raised funds to scale transaction businesses across Quikr verticals including home rental, beauty services, goods, cars as well as online recruitment.

Currently valued at $1.6 Bn (INR 11,295 Cr), Quikr has till date raised total equity funding of $350 Mn (INR 2,483.7 Cr). The investor base includes names such as Tiger Global, Kinnevik, Warburg Pincus, Matrix Partners, Norwest Venture Partners, eBay, and Nokia Growth Partners. Rahul Tewari, CFO of Quikr will now look to optimise the company’s capital structure.

Quikr was founded in 2008 by Pranay Chulet as a classifieds website. Since then, the company has extended its verticals slowly and steadily. With 30 Mn monthly unique visitors, it is currently present in 1,200 cities in India. Recently, it announced the launch of Quikr Assured which will cover all of Quikr’s existing verticals.

Ashish Sharma, CEO, InnoVen Capital, said, “Pranay & the Quikr team have built some market-leading vertical platforms, all of which have a significant runway for growth.  The company has showcased strong momentum, with improving unit economics.”

Other debt investments carried by InnoVen Capital this year include names such as Bounce, PharmEasy, Travel Triangle, among others. It closed the first half of 2018 with commitments of funding worth $59.2 Mn (INR 418 Cr) to be invested in early and growth-stage startups.

As of June 2018 end, InnoVen Capital India has cumulatively funded venture debt worth over $330 Mn (INR 2,329 Cr) in more than 120 tech startups across India. Going further, InnoVen Capital is undergoing discussions with startups to write larger cheques and hence expect the pace of capital deployment to continue briskly in the second half of the year as well.