Bizongo raises Rs 139 crore from B Capital, IFC and others

MUMBAI: Packaging solutions provider Bizongo has raised Rs 139 crore (about $22 million) from venture capital firm B Capital Group and the International Finance Corporation (IFC) to boost workforce and user base.

Existing investors Accel Partners and IDG Ventures also participated in the Series B financing round, which takes the total capital raised by Bizongo to about Rs 160 crore ($25 million). One of the best-funded startups in the country’s B2B packaging sector, Bizongo had last raised funds ($3 million) in November 2016.

The company, founded by Aniket Deb, Sachin Agrawal and Ankit Tomar, is looking to use the capital to grow both its client and seller base and enlarge its operations team, as it targets 5 times growth in yearly revenue. “We plan to expand the seller base from the current 250-300 to over 1,000 and increase active buyers from the existing 100 to about 1,000 in two years,” said Deb, its CEO.


“That will impact the growth curve for us positively.”

The financing also marks technology-focused B Capital’s third investment in India. Two months ago, the VC firm, founded by Facebook cofounder Eduardo Saverin, had closed its maiden fund at $360 million.

For B Capital, the investment is in line with its plan of backing differentiated players in large and fragmented markets that act as pillars to the robust ecommerce and retail sector in India.

“The packaging market is a large and fragmented market in India that is growing rapidly, driven by retail expansion and ecommerce. We think, one of the ways to benefit from the rapid growth in ecommerce and organised retail is to back the enablers across payments, logistics and now packaging,” Kabir Narang, partner at B Capital Group, told ET. “We have already invested in companies in payments and logistics in Asia and packaging was a natural extension of investing in the picks-and-shovels or the enablers of this massive growth.”

On its part, Bizongo provides end-to-end automated solution comprising design, development and procurement for over 300 active sellers across its platform and has clients across five key sectors of FMCG, food, retail, supply chain and ecommerce. The company works with Flipkart, Amazon, Myntra, FirstCry, Bunge and Tata Cliq, among others.

Currently about 65-70% of the firm’s sales come from repeat transactions from its clients. Bizongo is also looking to extend operations to the pharmaceutical industry, one that is likely to aid transaction volumes significantly.