Business-to-business e-commerce marketplace, Bzaar, has raised $4 million as a part of its seed funding round led by Canaan Partners, the company said in a statement.
Former Flipkart executives and investors including Binny Bansal, co-founder of Flipkart; Sameer Nigam and Rahul Chari, co-founders of PhonePe; Lee Fixel, founder of Addition, and Ashish Gupta, co-founder of Helion Ventures, also participated in the current fundraise.
According to the company, the new funds will be utilised towards bringing more verified, export-ready manufacturers onto the platform as well as to strengthen its India operations.
Founded earlier this year, Bzaar is a digital global wholesale marketplace enabling small retailers across the world to buy products from India and Southeast Asia.
The startup handles the entire process, including logistics and shipping, while ensuring doorstep delivery.
“The pandemic has accelerated the need for supply-chain diversification and triggered a massive surge in businesses looking to expand internationally. Currently, if you’re a small business in India looking to start or accelerate your exports business, the infrastructure is largely offline and opaque or mostly non-existent. Bzaar democratizes exporting from India & Southeast Asia so that the region’s in-demand products are accessible at a global scale,” said Nishant Verman, co-founder and chief executive officer (CEO), Bzaar.
Verman was previously the head of corporate development and strategic partnerships at Flipkart and spearheaded the company’s $16 billion acquisition by Walmart in 2018, before venturing into entrepreneurship. Prior to co-founding Bzaar, he founded Prefr, a digital referral platform for community doctors.
At present, Bzaar features over 15,000 products across 50 verticals, including lifestyle, home, accessories, apparel, jewelry from value-based brands and sellers in India. The startup claims to power cross-border trade to customers and retailers in more than 100 countries.
“Today, the US is already the largest export market for Indian goods, representing 17% of total goods exports. Yet no online platforms have really existed for US-based SMBs to discover trusted suppliers, purchase large quantities, and manage the entire buying process. That’s exactly why Bzaar exists and why we’re excited to lead their seed round,” said Joydeep Bhattacharyya, general partner, Canaan.
Bzaar has witnessed a 20-fold increase in the number of sellers using its platform in the last six months, it said.