Ofbusiness, a Gurgaon-based technology-enabled SME marketplace, has raised INR 75 Crores in its Series B funding round led by Zodius Technology Opportunities Fund (ZTOF), one of India’s leading growth stage tech and digital funds, with participation from existing investors Matrix Partners India and angels.
Ofbusiness was launched in January 2016 with the aim of solving the problems of price discovery, reliability and financial access in one of India's largest and inefficient segments, the SME space, by harnessing the power of technology. It combines commerce, credit and logistics services for SMEs in the geographical clusters that it operates in. The commerce is around primarily raw materials in construction and manufacturing and suppliers on the platform are also mostly SMEs that find new markets and channels.
Asish Mohapatra, Co-founder, Ofbusiness said, “We at Ofbusiness are passionate about the SME space given our collective experiences and the opportunity it offers in both depth and scope for innovation. “Profitable” commerce is how we acquire customers, credit will lock them in and gradually, we will add more services in the network. We intend to build the largest SME network in India. Zodius is a highly respected name in the growth capital world, known for supporting businesses that disrupt deep offline sectors through sheer execution and technology. It’s a privilege to have them as partners in our quest to be the most trusted and deepest SME network in India.”
Vikram Vaidyanathan, Managing Director, Matrix India, added, “Indian MSME/SMEs are adopting technology at a rapid pace and ready to transact online, opening up perhaps one of the largest markets in India. The OfBusiness approach combining technology, credit and deep geographical operating expertise is leading to fantastic growth with sustainable economics. We are privileged to partner with Asish, Bhuvan, Ruchi and a fantastic management team here; and welcome Zodius to the partnership”
Gautam Patel, Managing Director, Zodius, said, “We are strong believers in the digital commerce market opportunity where we have backed B2C e-commerce companies like PepperFry, BigBasket and Zivame. We are excited to invest in the B2B commerce sector as well where Ofbusiness has a unique “Cluster-wise” approach to servicing SME Buyers & Sellers. Their combined high touch relationship management and product capability (material, credit and logistics) will make them the profitable leader in the sector”.
Ofbusiness is currently present in 10 industrial and construction clusters across India. Since its start, the Company is off to a rapid scale with best in class industry metrics in profitability, working capital, transaction sizes and repeat rates. The latest infusion of funds takes the total capital raised by the company till date to over INR 100 Crore. Ofbusiness now plans to significantly expand its footprint to cover 30+ clusters, more product lines like consumables. The Company’s growth is also expected to be driven by its financial services subsidiary which will enable greater access to financing for the SME ecosystem. The subsidiary will be led by a strong team from the financial services sector under ex-Mckinsey partner and co-founder, Ofbusiness, Ruchi Kalra.
Highlighting the importance of technology, Bhuvan Gupta, Co-founder, Ofbusiness, said, “Our initial focus has been to build technology that makes us, buyers and suppliers efficient in commerce and related services. With this raise, we intend to further deepen the presence of technology among SMEs.”
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