Internet commerce in India has largely been inspired by proven models in the US and to some extent China and the West. After e-commerce, cab-hailing and on-demand services, Indian entrepreneurs are now taking a leaf out of Thrasio, Branded and Perch.
Of late, several companies in this space are drawing significant interest from early to late-stage backers such as SoftBank. One such company is Evenflow, which would acquire and scale third-party brands that sell on e-commerce marketplaces such as Amazon and Flipkart.
Incorporated in May, the Mumbai-based company is in talks to raise $6-7 million in a new round, according to two sources aware of the details of the potential transaction.
“Elevation Capital, Stellaris Venture Partners and several other venture capital firms are in early-stage discussion to invest in Evenflow,” said one of the sources requesting anonymity.
According to the sources, this would be the second funding round for the month-old firm. “It had raised a seed round in May from a clutch of angels including Kunal Shah, Gaurav Munjal along with a micro VC firms Equanimity Ventures and 9Unicorns,” said the source quoted above.
Entrackr has independently verified the investments made by Munjal, Shah and 9Unicorns in Evenflow.
Founded by Utsav Agarwal and Pulkit Chhabra, Evenflow has a presence in Bengaluru, Mumbai, Kolkata and Delhi. According to the company’s website, it targets brands that do 80% or more of their revenue through e-commerce marketplaces.
“Unlike Mensa and GOAT Brands Labs that are focussed on lifestyle and fashion, Evenflow is targeting everyday goods and categories,” added the second source who also wished not to be named. The person also said that Evenflow has signed letters of intent with a few brands which are under due diligence.
Evenflow is likely to be valued at $20-22 million in the new round, the person said.
Elevation declined to comment on the story. Queries sent to Evenflow and Stellaris did not elicit an immediate response. We’ll update the story in case they do.
Evenflow’s talks for a new round has come at a time when several companies in this space have either raised capital or are in late-stage talks to do so.
Just days ago, Ananth Narayanan-led Mensa raised the largest maiden round ~ $50 million ~ ever raised by an Indian startup. Powerhouse91, another startup led by the co-founders of Azah, had nabbed a seed round from Titan Capital in February.
Meanwhile, kids-focused fashion unicorn FirstCry is eyeing to raise $75 million from SoftBank and others to launch a new Thrasio-type venture called Global Bees. Goat Brands Labs, a similar startup launched by former Flipkart executive Rishi Vasudev, is also in talks to raise about $20 million.
While there has been a lot of euphoria around this emerging model that has the potential to churn new unicorns, experts believe that none of these entrepreneurs have prior experience in building and scaling direct-to-consumer or D2C brands.
Also, the space is getting overcrowded and there would be plenty of acquirers for good D2C brands.
