Craftsvilla Earmarks $9.8 Mn For Acquisition Of Technology Startups

Mumbai-based ethnic etailer, Craftsvilla.com, has set aside around $9.8 Mn (INR 65 Cr) from its latest round of funding to acquire technology startups that will complement its business and enhance customer experience. The amount set aside is little more than a quarter of the of the $34 Mn (INR 221 Cr) funding  it raised last week.

Manoj Gupta, co-founder of Craftsvilla stated, “We are looking at technologies in the data science spaces, and mobile technology.” The startup aims to announce at least two acquisitions this quarter from the five companies with which talks are in the process.

The company plans to also diversify into categories like yoga, herbal and ayurvedic products and tribal handicrafts, and aims to also acquire startups with such product offerings.  Manoj added that they are in talks with startups in (Malaysia and Indonesia) to help them with expansion, and that the ticket sizes for acquisitions would be between $1to 2 Mn.

The recent Series C round of funding was led by existing investors Sequoia India and Lightspeed Venture Partners. Besides, Nexus Venture Partners, Global Founders Capital and Apoletto also participated in this round, taking the company’s value at $200 Mn, post investment.

As per Gupta, Craftsvilla is looking at a valuation of at least a billion dollars in the next 12-18 months, before it goes public. It aims to hit $500 Mn in GMV over the next one year. Currently, it is clocking $120 Mn in GMV annually.

Craftsvilla’s ambitions come on the back of the fact that the online ethnic wear market size is poised to be around $300-500 Mn in size. Many ecommerce players like Cbazar, IndianRoots and online marketplaces like Flipkart, Snapdeal and Amazon are also pushing their presence in this segment. Margins in the ethnic category are somewhere between 60-80%. As per Manoj, Craftsvilla typically gets a 20% commission on products sold. Earlier in April, it had raised $16.6 Mn in its series B round of funding led by Sequoia Capital.

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