Bijnis raises $30 Mn in Series B round led by Westbridge Capital

Bijnis, a business-to-business marketplace for the unorganised retail segment, said it has raised $30 million in Series B funding led by Westbridge Capital. The round also saw participation from existing investors InfoEdge, Matrix Partners India, Sequoia Capital India, and Waterbridge Ventures.

The company will use the fresh funds to expand the base of manufacturers on its platform from the current 5,000, generating demand by expanding the retailer base, product development and expanding the team. 

Founded by Siddharth Vij, Chaitanya Rathi, Siddharth Rastogi and Shubham Agrawal in 2015, the company’s eponymous app enables retailers to purchase goods directly from factories, thus eliminating the hassle of price negotiations, quality assurance and payment security. 

Entrackr was the first to report on Bijnis’ Series A financing round in July last year was closed at $10 million. The round was led by Sequoia, Matrix Partners and saw participation from its existing investors WaterBridge Ventures and Info Edge. At the time, the company was valued at Rs 190 crore, according to Fintrackr’s estimates.

Bootstrapped for nearly two years, Bijnis raked its maiden funding of Rs 95 lakh in 2016 from Indian Angel Network.

While Bijni’s is yet to file its annual financial statement for the last two years, the company’s operating revenues increased 6.2X from Rs 37 lakhs in FY18 to Rs 2.3 crore in FY19. It earned 56.5% of its revenues through logistic fees and the rest through commission on sales on the platform.

However, the company spent dearly to achieve the increase in the scale of sales. Total expenses shot up eight-fold from Rs 1.15 crore in FY18 to around Rs 9 crore in FY19. Around 52% of the total expenses was spent on fulfilment and transportation of goods, 28% on employee benefits and the remaining on other operational costs. 

The ramping up of expenses took the P/L further into the red and losses rose 8.5X from Rs 78.5 lakhs to Rs 6.7 crore in FY19. Bijnis spent Rs 3.93 to earn a rupee as revenue in FY19, 25.5% more than Rs 3.13 it spent for the same during FY18.