Online B2B marketplace for supply chain solutions ProcMart has raised $30 million in its Series B funding round led by Infosys co-founder Nandan Nilekani’s VC fund Fundamentum Partnership and Edelweiss Discovery Fund, the company announced on Tuesday.
The round also saw participation from South Korea-based Paramark Ventures and existing investors Sixth Sense Ventures and IndiaMART.
Speaking on the funding, Anish Popli, CEO & Founder, ProcMart said, “With the rise of centralised procurement and a shift towards optimising non-core expenditures, the Indian MRO (maintenance, repair, operations) industry is on the brink of a significant transformation. Owing to our established credibility and robust infrastructure, we are well-positioned to capitalise on this market opportunity.”
Profitable over the last three years, ProcMart said it aims to deploy the capital towards exploring strategic acquisitions to further optimise backward integration of the supply chain for businesses and expand its contract manufacturing capabilities.
Speaking on the company’s profitable business operations, Prateek Jain, Principal, Fundamentum told FE Aspire, “As a fund that invests in startups in the scale up stage, sustainable business model is a key metric for us, in B2B businesses particularly given the scope for low profit margins but high ROCE (return on capital employed). So yes, ProcMart’s ability to grow consistently and sustainably year on year was impressive.
The company will also be expanding to newer industries including biofuel and packaging, growing its distribution network in India and strengthening international operations in Southeast Asia. In addition, the money will be used for talent acquisition and technology.
Founded in 2015 by Anish Popli, ProcMart enables large enterprises to connect with numerous vendors for their indirect purchases through its use interface. The company has partnered with global MNCs and domestic companies across multiple product categories and industries such as FMCG, auto, pharma, metal, power, and others.
The company currently has a presence across 20 cities in India and international operations in Malaysia and Indonesia.
“Procmart focuses on large blue-chip enterprises which are multinational and focusing on manufacturing in India for local consumption as well as global exports. The tailwind in manufacturing in India, consolidation and digitisation of non-core but critical spends using SaaS-enabled marketplaces is a unique trend coming to India. Procmart deals in 15,000 SKUs and is aggregating and streamlining heterogeneous supply. It is growing very well while being profitable,” said Jain.
Fundamentum usually makes two to three investments every year. However, it made only a single bet last year in the audio platform Kuku FM amid funding winter.
“While certainly the funding environment has been overall slow last year, it is also about investing in the right company that is built for the long-term and has demonstrated good product-market-fit. For us, it’s critical to have a concentrated portfolio that fits into our investment thesis, we don’t make bets otherwise,” said Jain.
Earlier this year, Fundamentum had invested in creator-focused commerce startup Wishlink.