WestBridge leads $29m Series B for India's Vyapar
WestBridge Capital has led an approximately USD 29m Series B round for Indian small business financial technology provider Vyapar. The company is now valued at around USD 118m.
Indiamart, the largest B2B marketplace of India, contributed about USD 8.2m to the round through a combination of primary and secondary share purchases, giving it a 27% stake on a fully diluted basis. Indiamart took a 26% interest in 2019 as part of a USD 5m Series A alongside India Quotient, which has also re-upped.
Vyapar’s core offering is a mobile and desktop software app for goods and services tax billing, accounting, and inventory management. It is said to have more than 100,000 small businesses as paying customers. Indiamart said the company had grown “several times” in the past three years.
“In 2018 when we invested in Vyapar, neither SaaS [software-as-a-service] for Indian SMBs [small to medium-sized businesses] nor the concept of self serves accounting apps were popular,” Gagan Goyal, a general partner at India Quotient, said in a statement.
“In the last four years, Vyapar has grown well and established itself as a category creator and a leader. More than 20 million small businesses still do not use any accounting software, so there is immense potential to grow.”
A host of PE-backed operators have aimed to digitize and otherwise organize the Indian micro, small and medium-sized enterprise (MSME) space from various angles.
At one end of the spectrum, large corporates have sought to create comprehensive infrastructural systems where their services and branding are ubiquitous. Reliance Industries and Amazon have raised significant funding for plans in this vein.
There has also been substantial traction among independent start-ups helping unbranded MSMEs manage cash flows and inventories, and logistics. India’s unorganized retail sector alone has been estimated to be worth $792 billion. It is seen as amenable to tech-enablement but has proven resistant to consolidation.
More on South Asia
Latest News
Asian GPs slow implementation of ESG policies - survey
Asia-based private equity firms are assigning more dedicated resources to environment, social, and governance (ESG) programmes, but policy changes have slowed in the past 12 months, in part due to concerns raised internally and by LPs, according to a...
Singapore fintech start-up LXA gets $10m seed round
New Enterprise Associates (NEA) has led a USD 10m seed round for Singapore’s LXA, a financial technology start-up launched by a former Asia senior executive at The Blackstone Group.
India's InCred announces $60m round, claims unicorn status
Indian non-bank lender InCred Financial Services said it has received INR 5bn (USD 60m) at a valuation of at least USD 1bn from unnamed investors including “a global private equity fund.”
Insight leads $50m round for Australia's Roller
Insight Partners has led a USD 50m round for Australia’s Roller, a venue management software provider specializing in family fun parks.