Village commerce startup 1Bridge has acquired all the technology assets of eSamudaay which is a network of software nodes connected on the ONDC protocol. 1Bridge also announced an equity funding of Rs 4 crore in a bridge round from its existing institutional investor C4D Partners, Sudhanva Dhananjaya Family Office and other angel investors.
According to the company, its a part of larger Series A capital which is expected to close at Rs 40 crore. The proceeds will be used to empower 500,000 local entrepreneurs and sellers to engage with 50 million rural consumers across the country and enable access, choice, and convenience of digital commerce to their doorstep, 1Bridge said in a press release.
As a part of the deal, Ravinder Singh Mahori, co-founder & CTO of eSamudaay, will join 1Bridge as CTO of the company.
eSamudaay has been partners of ONDC and onboarded thousands of sellers on the ONDC network in markets like Udupi, Meerut, and Mysore. The deal with eSamudaay allows easier and more effective access to these markets for brands, especially in consumer durables, home appliances, automobiles, agriculture implements, health and wellness, FMCG, et al.
Founded in 2016 by Madan Padaki, 1Bridge empowers local entrepreneurs to catalyse inclusive growth on digital platforms and claims to have operation in more than 18,000 villages of 75 districts across six states (Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Telangana, Tamil Nadu, Odisha) through over 21,000 network of its advisors. It also claims that it has delivered over 70 million transactions since inception and assisted commerce app that integrates order origination, digital payments and last-mile delivery.
1Bridge aims to foster digital economy across 500 districts and 300,000 villages impacting 50 million consumers over the next five years.
