After $36 Mn Series E round, Power2SME gets Rs 40 Cr commitment in debt

Business-to-business e-commerce platform Power2SME, which closed its Series E round in September, last year, has now got a commitment from Innoven Capital for more infusion.

With the latest investment of Rs 40 crore, the venture debt firm has also committed to supporting Power2SME's working capital needs through its partner financial institutions.

According to R Narayan, CEO of Power2SME, the proceeds will help the startup to conserve equity, minimise dilution and extend the runway beside enhancing company's business offering.

The Temasek-backed venture debt firm has been a significant investor in the Gurugram-based online buying club. It had earlier advanced Rs 11 crore to the Gurgaon-based company in two separate transactions in 2015.

Backed by Nandan Nilekani’s family office apart from institutional investors such as Accel Partners, Inventus Capital Partners and Kalaari Capital, the company has so far raised nearly $77 million since its inception in 2012.

In its last round (Series E) it had raised $36 million funding in a Series E round from its existing investors Inventus Capital, Accel, Kalaari and IFC along with Nandan Nilekani.

Power2SME works with large, established suppliers and vendors such as SAIL, TATA Steel, ESSAR Steel, Balaji Enterprise, POSCO Steel, Apollo Pipes, JSL, among others.

It also works with nearly 50,000 small and medium industries sourcing raw materials such as steel, polymers, and chemicals, and provides a buying club for SMEs ordering from a common location to procure bulk raw materials directly from these renowned companies.

The company currently operates out of 7 offices and 14 states in India and has a registered SME base of 50,000 SMEs.

Apart from InnoVen Capital, there are other debt financing firms such as Gurugram’s Trifecta Capital, and Alteria Capital, among others. In November last year, the segment observed the arrival of early-stage startup investor Unicorn India Ventures, which joining the debt financing industry with the launch of a $94 million debt fund.

In 2017 Innoven Capital had deployed $75 million in the startup ecosystem, through debt financing. It also added 22 new companies to its portfolio, registering an annual growth of 25 per cent.

The development was reported by ET.