Reliance To Buy 87.6% Stake In Ecommerce Startup Fynd For INR 295 Cr

Reliance Industries Limited is set to acquire an 87.6% stake in fashion ecommerce platform Fynd for INR 295 Cr (about $42.33 Mn), according to a Reliance Industries’ filings in the Bombay Stock Exchange.

According to the terms of the deal, Reliance Industrial Investments and Holdings Ltd, a subsidiary of RIL, has an option to further invest up to INR 100 Cr by December 2021 in and Shopsense Retail Technologies, which owns Fynd. Presumably, Fynd’s ecommerce platform would be integrated with Reliance Retail and the conglomerate’s upcoming ecommerce service, which would work on an offline-to-online (O2O) model, which Fynd also operates in.

The Mukesh Ambani-led group was said to be in talks to acquire Fynd in March this year, with unconfirmed reports claiming RIL looking for a 70% stake in Fynd. However, Fynd cofounder Harsh Shah told Inc42 at the time that the company does not have any acquisition plans. Shah also added that Reliance and a couple of more investors have shown interest in investing in the company.

According to Reliance’s BSE filings, Fynd had a turnover of INR4.84 Cr, INR 0.70 Cr and INR 0.52 Cr, with a loss of INR 18.64 Cr, INR 10.64 Cr and INR 1.51 Cr in FY 2018, FY 2017 and FY 2016 respectively.

Founded in 2012 by Farooq Adam, Harsh Shah, and Sreeraman MG, Fynd functions on an O2O model and directly sources products across various categories – including clothing, footwear, jewellery, and accessories, from prominent brands in the country. The startup optimises delivery time by sourcing products from the outlets nearest to the customer. It claims to have about 8,000 outlets on board for about 500 clients. Fynd’s in-house product the ‘Fynd Store’ helps brand stores save their in-store sales data. Fynd Store helps store managers place order on behalf of walk-ins, in case the desired product is not stocked or not available in the right size in the store.

Last March, Google led a Series C funding round in Fynd, which included existing investors Kae Capital, IIFL, Singularity Ventures, GrowX, Tracxn Labs, Venture Catalyst, Patni family office and HongKong based Axis Capital among other angel investors.

In 2017 alone, the Mumbai-based startup raised about $3.4 Mn spread across three rounds. The startup also counts people like Anand Chandrasekaran (Global Director, Platform/Partnerships at Facebook), Rajiv Mehta (CEO of Arvind Sports Lifestyle Limited), and Ramakant Sharma (co-founder of Livspace) among its investors.