Exclusive: Behtar set to raise $25 Mn from Sequoia at valuation of $100 Mn

Franchise model retail store brand Behtar is in late-stage talks to raise $25 million in a fresh financing round led by Sequoia Capital, said three people aware of the details of the transaction. This would be the third financing round for the company which has preferred to stay away from the media limelight.

“Sequoia has given the term sheet to Behtar and contours of the deal have been finalised. If nothing goes wrong from here, the transaction would materialise in a few weeks from now,” said one of the sources on condition of anonymity.

Founded by former Accel Partners executive Venkatesh Upadhyay and Yash Trivedi in 2019, Behtar has close to 350 stores under its brand across Bengaluru and Delhi (NCR), said sources. For retailers, it enables sourcing, technology and delivering enhanced front end experience for customers.

Importantly, Behtar doesn't even have a website.

Till now, Behtar has raised over $15 million or Rs 112 crore(excluding this round) from Accel Partner, New York-based Greenoaks and some angels. According to regulatory filings, the company got Rs 4.8 crore from Accel in January 2018 followed by another tranche of Rs 8.74 crore in March 2019. 

Accel and Greenoak collectively invested Rs 77.2 crore in December 2019. In February 2020, the company raised Rs 9.6 crore from Trivedi, Rs 7.8 crore from Alif Capital and Rs 3.8 crore in July from Rahul Mehta. 

“Behtar would be valued at about $100 million in the fresh financing round,” said another person who also wished not to be named as talks are private. 

Sequoia has declined to offer comment for the story and Upadhyay and Accel are yet to respond. 

Behtar competes with Peppertap Supermart, Store King and Kirana King and a few others in this space. Peppertap Supermart is likely to be part of Gram Factory. In its previous avatar, Peppertap used to be an on-demand grocery platform. The Sequoia and Snapdeal-funded venture had shut operations in early 2016.

In FY20, Behtar’s revenue from operations amounted to Rs 24.4 crore and its losses were at Rs 5.85 crore. The startup’s total expenditure stood at Rs 30.84 crore, showed its annual financial report. Importantly, the company spent Rs 19.91 crore on buying traded goods (probably stocks or inventories) in FY20, a 5.5X jump from Rs 3.62 crore in FY19.