B2B Start-Up Udaan Raises $250 Million Via Convertible Note And Debt

The company is planning to launch an initial public offering in the next 18-24 months

Bengaluru-based Udaan has raised $200 million via convertible note and an additional $50 million as debt. Image: Getty

New Delhi: India’s largest business-to-business (B2B) e-commerce platform Udaan has raised $250 million through convertible note and debt, according to a report published in Business Standard.

The Bengaluru-based firm has raised $200 million via convertible note and an additional $50 million as debt, said Udaan’s Chief Financial Officer Aditya Pande.

“We are excited and glad to share that we have five new marquee investors coming onboard the Udaan juggernaut, as part of our recently concluded convertible note financing. This round was oversubscribed 2x and also saw participation from our existing investors, including those who bought into the company through the secondary (ESOP) round in H1 2021,” Pande wrote in an email.

However, the email didn’t reveal the name of investors. The current valuation of Udaan also couldn’t be ascertained.

Pande said, “With this convertible offering, we, as a company, have started building a complete new muscle in our finance function which we will continue to strengthen as we go forward.”

Udaan was co-founded by three former Flipkart executives Sujeet Kumar, Vaibhav Gupta, and Amod Malviya.

According to the report, the trio is busy in connecting small retailers with wholesalers and traders in India as vast majority of B2B market in the country remains unorganised.

The company today serves more than 3 million retailers and small and medium-sized businesses and has signed up thousands of brands, including Coca-Cola, PepsiCo, Boat Lifestyle, Micromax, HP, LG, ITC, HUL, and P&G.

Udaan competes with e-commerce giants such as Amazon India, Flipkart, Reliance’s JioMart and the Tata group for a share in the grocery market.

According to the sources, the start-up is eyeing the grocery market to be worth $850 billion by 2025 and is focusing on community grocery e-commerce to tap the sector growing sharply in the pandemic.

Uddan earlier had said that the company is planning to launch an initial public offering (IPO) in the next 18-24 months.