Quikr is raising Rs 20 Cr venture debt from Trifecta

A lot has been going on in Pranay Chulet’s classified house.

In December it was reported that Quikr has closed a debt deal with Innoven Capital worth Rs 55 crore. While there is no way to confirm this due to a lack of documents supporting the incident on Indian MCA website, it is true that Quikr has raised some capital since the beginning of 2019.

At the onset of 2019, the company had transferred Rs 28.65 crore from its Mauritius entity via 30,775 equity shares priced at Rs 9,310 each. This could mean that Innoven Capital’s debt money was invested in the Mauritius entity and then some of it was transferred to Indian entity via equity route, or there was no Rs 55 crore funding at all.

The only direct debt fundraise visible in company’s RoC filings in the past 6 months is the upcoming investment from Trifecta Capital worth Rs 20 crore. Trifecta is purchasing 200 non-convertible debentures each at a price of Rs 10 lakhs from Quikr.

For past half-a-year, the company has also been looking to raise a $150 million round from new and existing investors. If closed it would be a repeated figure four years after the last $150 million round led by Kinnevik in April 2015.

These fundings, actual and aspirated, come at a time when Quikr has been onto several companies for acquisition. After acquiring India Property in December itself, the company has reportedly been in talks with Zefo, a used goods marketplace and an online laundry services platform in Bengaluru - LaundryAnna (acquihire)

If closed, Quikr will have a total of 16 acquired companies in a duration little over a decade.

Apart from this, the company has most recently opened its third QuikrBazaar store in Telangana. Prior to this, Quikr already had 4 such stores in Telangana and Karnataka altogether. These stores that aim to provide customers with touch and feel the experience of products - furniture, electronic, appliances - are slated to open in 25 locations by the end of 2019.

All this looks like a part of Quikr’s plans to strengthen and scale up its multiple verticals, as it had claimed its intent was at the time of Innoven debt announcement. Not to forget, that the company has also been bullish on its QuikrEasy services that are akin to Dunzo, and Swiggy Stores.

But the question that still bothers one is how fruitful all this is going to be? While the business verticals in the company might be doing good for themselves, horizontally the company is lacking in the growth synergy somehow.