Standard Chartered-backed Solv raises $40 Mn in Series A round

Solv, a B2B digital marketplace for Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises, has raised $40 million in its Series A funding round led by Japan-based SBI Holdings with participation from SC Ventures.

This takes Solv’s total funding to nearly $80 million. Last year, Entrackr had reported about Standard Chartered's entry into B2B e-commerce space via Solv. It is 100% owned by Standard Chartered and was incubated by SC Ventures, the innovation investment unit of the London-based firm.

Solv will use the fresh funds to launch additional high-margin product categories and expand to more than 300 cities in India. The proceeds will also help the company to expand it BNPL (Buy Now Pay Later) products offering.

Led by Amit Bansal, Solv connects sellers and buyers across categories such as grocery and fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG), readymade apparel, electronic and accessories, home furnishings and footwear and accessories. Besides the supply chain, the platform also offers unsecured credit up to Rs 50 lakh.

Solv launched BNPL feature with third-party fintech and NBFC platforms to offer instant invoice financing for as low as Rs 3,000 for a period from 15 to 60 days.

According to the company, it is present in over 200 cities and served over 2.2 lakh MSMEs in a Covid-hit year domestically. The 18-month-old company is targeting to have a gross merchandise volume of $500 million from India in 2022 and has already clocked $260 million in the first half.

In the B2B e-commerce and lending, Solv competes with Udaan.

While Solv is yet to file its annual financial report for FY22, the company reported Rs 1.23 crore in revenue in FY21 as compared to Rs 9 lakh in FY20, as per its annual financial statements filed with RoC. The annual losses of the firm surged 39.1% to Rs 63.66 crore in FY21 from Rs 45.78 crore in the previous fiscal year (FY20).

The lead investor of the round SBI Holdings' chief executive Yoshitaka Kitao said this is one of the largest investments in the region for the financial services player. Last week, a Bloomberg report said that Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group may acquire 10% stake in SBI Holdings. Japanese insurance giant Mitsui Sumitomo has backed several Indian startups including Rentomojo, GOQii, Medikabazaar, LetsTransport and SmartE.