B2B E-Commerce Platform Udaan Raises Capital of $120 Mn
The business-to-business (B2B) e-commerce platform Udaan has received $120 million in convertible notes and debt, despite the fact that the whole startup ecosystem is currently experiencing a financial crisis.
With this deal, Udaan has raised more than $350 million in debt and convertible notes over the course of the previous four quarters. With 100% payment security and total transparency, Udaan enables small manufacturers, farmers, and brands to market and sell their goods across the nation at affordable costs.
The business is pleased with the most recent round of funding, particularly given how difficult it is right now to attract investors for the startup sector.
According to a recent PwC India study, startup funding fell to a two-year low of $2.7 billion across 205 deals in the quarter that ran from July to September.
In addition, only two Indian startups achieved unicorn status in the same quarter. This is consistent with a global trend that witnessed a decrease in the number of new unicorns in the previous quarter.
Due to investors’ continued caution in an unstable environment, experts have had difficulty predicting the final result of the funding slowdown.
Amit Nawka, partner deals and India startups head at PwC India, stated that it is difficult to tell how long the slowdown in fundraising would remain but that it is obvious that both founders and investors are being more selective and careful in deal-making.
Additionally, the B2B e-commerce business plans to go public within the next 12 to 18 months. In order to quickly attain profitability, the corporation has been reorganizing its business strategy and placing an emphasis on cost-effectiveness. Udaan is currently one of the most profitable unicorns.
Since investors are now extremely wary of investing in loss-making businesses, as evidenced by the experiences of Nykaa, Paytm, and Zomato, it is now imperative for startups to become profitable before going public.