- Sep 04, 2018
Udaan Raises $225 Mn
Ex-Flipkart executives Sujeet Kumar, Amod Malviya and Vaibhav Gupta's B2B e-commerce startup Udaan, has raised $225 million in its latest funding round, making it the fastest Indian start up to reach $1 billion in valuation. The funding round was led by DST Global and Lightspeed Venture Partners.
Udaan raised $10 million dollars in Series A by Lightspeed in 2016 and $50 million in early of 2018 from the same venture capital firm. The company has a flagship mobile app that allows 150,000 wholesalers and retailers in India to do business directly with the manufacturers. As of now the app only has electronics and consumer goods, with plans to include industrial goods, fresh fruits and vegetables, office supplies etc.
Being just 26 months old, Udaan has become one of the fastest companies to reach the unicorn status. Recently, 3D printing company Desktop Metal also reached $1 billion valuation in just 21 months. Another company similar to Craigslist, Letgo achieved unicorn status in 2 years.
In India, start ups have taken longer than usual to reach the unicorn status. For instance, Swiggy became a unicorn after 4 years of its launch and Zomato achieved this feat after 10 years in business. Udaan seems to change the landscape by proving that it is possible for Indian startups to reach a high valuation in just a few years in business.
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