#FundingAlert: B2B marketplace Bijnis raises $10 million from Sequoia, others
Bijnis, a Delhi-based technology-driven B2B retail marketplace, has secured $10 million in a Series-A round of funding. The investment was co-led by Matrix Partners India and Sequoia Capital India, along with the start-up's existing investors InfoEdge (the parent company of Naukri.com) and WaterBridge Ventures. Here is all about Bijnis and how it plans to use this money.
A place to connect manufacturers and retailers
Founded in 2015 by Siddharth Vij, Chaitanya Rathi, Siddharth Rastogi, and Shubham Agarwal, Bijnis is a digital platform that connects manufacturers and retailers in the unorganized fashion industry. It integrates third-party payments and logistics solutions to let retailers seamlessly buy wholesale products from manufacturers in different parts of India. The orders are quality-checked by Bijnis, with options for pay-on-delivery and easy returns also included.
COVID-19 has accelerated need for B2B digitization, says Vij
"We started with footwear...it scaled well and profitably, and that's when we decided to expand our scope and launch other categories like fashion, lifestyle, and accessories," Siddharth Vij told Economic Times. "COVID-19 has further accelerated the need for digitization on both sides of the marketplace."
Currently, over 400 manufacturers sell to 60,000 retailers via Bijnis
Since launching the Bijnis app, formerly called ShoeKonnect, the company has managed to rope in more than 400 manufacturers and 60,000+ retailers selling fashion products across India. The company claims it has been bridging the gap between manufacturers and retailers by making them discoverable and helping with the sourcing/selling of wholesale products through convenient delivery/return and payment options.
Now, the start-up plans to build on this
With the latest capital infusion, Bijnis plans to work in this direction and help more manufacturers boost their business by expanding their distribution network of retailers across India. Beyond this, the company also plans to use the money to build new products and scalable technologies to better serve wholesale manufacturers in the fashion and footwear category.
We are on the right track, says Vij
Welcoming the investment, Vij said there is an immense opportunity in building a digital ecosystem around traditional B2B supply chains. "Building the model for one category...has helped us understand the problems that lie at the core of unorganized supply chains," he added. "We are on the right track and positioned to expand and revolutionize the traditional B2B ecosystem around fashion and lifestyle categories."
Here's what Matrix's MD Vikram Vaidyanathan said on the investment
"Traditional manufacturers & retailers of India are digitizing their business at a rapid rate. Bijnis is playing a unique role in redefining this supply chain for apparel... We believe in their manufacturer-first approach driving tech adoption and efficiency for all players in the value chain."
