Bizongo, a B2B startup focusing on the packaging industry, has secured Rs 825 crore (~$110 million) in a Series D funding round backed by American investment firm Tiger Global Management, according to regulatory filings filed by the company.
The capital, according to reports, is being raised at a post-money valuation of Rs 4,500 crore (~$600 million). In this round, Tiger Global will invest Rs 337 crore, followed by Rs 131.25 crore each from B Capital and CDC Group. IFC, the World Bank’s private-sector division, invested Rs 118.23 crore, while Schroder Capital invested Rs 60 crore.
With this investment, Tiger Global has become the startup’s second-largest stakeholder, with a fully diluted interest of 8.15 percent. The round also featured participation from other investors including Bruno E Raschle, Chiratae Ventures, Satyadharma Investments, and Castle Investments.
The latest round of funding follows a $51 million Series C round driven by CDC Group and Add Ventures that concluded almost eight months ago. In January, Bizongo secured about $26 million in a Series C round led by Schroder Adveq and Bruno Raschle. In addition to the equity investments, the Mumbai-based company has secured debt funding from IDFC First Bank, Strides, Tradecred, and Trifecta Capital.
SmartPaddle Technology Pvt. Ltd owned Bizongo was founded in 2015 by three IIT grads Aniket Deb, Ankit Tomar, and Sachin Agrawal. The startup is a B2B online marketplace that provides industry packaging supplies for sectors that include e-commerce, FMCG, industrial logistics, retail, restaurant & hospitality, and food & beverage.
Bizongo manufactures carry bags, cartons, containers, cans, material handling equipment, protective packaging, pouches & tubes, non-paper-based packaging, shippers, paper goods, bulk packaging, among other packaging supplies. According to its website, the company has partnered with well-known brands such as Walmart-owned Flipkart, logistics startup Ecom Express, Tata Cliq, Firstcry, and Licious, among many others.
Bizongo stated that it generates the majority of its revenue from Indian customers and claims to have seen early momentum in Bangladesh, Thailand, the Middle East, and the United Kingdom, where it is working with customers in the healthcare and fashion industries.
The startup employs over 1,500 individuals across the country, has a monthly capacity of 2 million tonnes, with 120 corporate customers, and has delivered more than 860 million units. Bizongo also provides digital vendor management, supply chain automation, and supply chain financing to its enterprise customers using its proprietary digital platforms which include Procure Live, Partner Hub, and Artwork Flow.
The Mumbai-based packaging startup is one of the rising numbers of B2B startups that have drawn investor interest as they aspire to serve businesses of all kinds with streamlined, efficient, and structured procurement and supply chain solutions. It designs, produces, and sells packaging material to small and medium enterprises, but experienced challenges as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic, but claimed to have offered severance compensation to those employees.