Online business-to-business footwear marketplace ShoeKonnect has secured about Rs 11 crore ($1.55 million) in a new round of funding from a new and an existing investor.
ShoeKonnect, operated by Bizcrum Infotech Pvt. Ltd, raised the funding from existing investor Info Edge (India) Ltd and a new investor. Info Edge said in a stock-exchange filing that it contributed Rs 4 crore while the new investor put in the remaining amount. It didn’t name the investor.
Info Edge, the parent of jobs portal Naukri.com and real estate website 99acres.com, said it would hold a stake of 32.85% in ShoeKonnect after the latest round of funding. It previously owned a 29.79% stake.
Info Edge had first bought a 20% stake in ShoeKonnect for Rs 3 crore in April last year. It invested an equal amount at a higher valuation in November last year, taking its stake to 27.27%. In April this year, it invested Rs 6 crore more.
ShoeKonnect was founded in 2014 by three economics graduates from Delhi University: Siddharth Vij, Chaitanya Rathi and Siddharth Rastogi. Rathi had earlier co-founded BeGhar.in, which is now defunct. Rastogi had been a tax analyst at PwC. Vij’s family runs footwear and apparel manufacturing businesses.
The startup raised an undisclosed amount from the Indian Angel Network in 2016. It posted revenue of Rs 36.8 lakh for the financial year ended March 2018, up from Rs 9.6 lakh the year before.
ShoeKonnect brings footwear manufacturers, retailers, component suppliers and buyers onto a single platform. The company is based in Agra, a leather products hub in Uttar Pradesh. It says it facilitates retailers' purchases from the manufacturer, reducing costs and avoiding logistical issues.
Info Edge is an active investor in tech startups. Apart from ShoeKonnect, it has invested in agri-tech startup Gramophone, food-tech venture Zomato, online insurance selling platform PolicyBazaar, retail printing chain Printo and medical healthcare records platform MedCords.
Other companies in Info Edge's portfolio include Delhi-based lifestyle products company Happily Unmarried Marketing Pvt. Ltd, ZippServ, an online platform that provides risk-assessment services for real estate investments; and Hyderabad-based International Educational Gateway Pvt. Ltd, an education services startup that operates under the Univariety brand.
