JM Financial Private Equity (PE), the alternative investment arm of JM Financial Ltd on Thursday said it has led a Series B funding round of Rs 37.5 crore ($4.8 million) in a warehousing and fulfilment services provider, Emiza Supply Chain Services Pvt. Ltd.
Mumbai-based Emiza will use the fresh capital to strengthen its technology, enter into last mile operations and expand into new geographies, according to the statement.
Existing investor Mayfield India participated in this funding round, said JM Financial Private Equity in a statement. Prior to this funding round, it raised Series A investment of $4.5 million led by Mayfield in 2017.
Emiza started operations in early 2016. Founder Ajay Rao was previously president of business development at Allcargo Global Logistics Ltd. It provides warehousing and fulfilment services to small and medium-sized companies, direct-to-consumer (D2C) brands and large corporates selling online. The company has warehouses in eight cities and has over 100 customers, it said.
“Our company has scaled up rapidly over the last three years, and we envisage even faster growth over the next few years," said Ajay Rao, CEO, Emiza.
Emiza's net sales more than doubled to Rs 23.6 crore in fiscal 2020-21 from Rs 9.1 crore in the previous financial year, according to VCCEdge, the data and intelligence platform of VCCircle. It achieved breakeven during the period at Rs 5.8 crore.
Darius Pandole, managing director & chief executive officer - PE & Equity AIFs, JM Financial, noted in the statement that to drive business and leverage the emerging growth opportunities, D2C brands and other companies selling online need to provide superior customer experience.
"That’s where Emiza comes in. We believe the fundamental shift in consumers’ purchasing behaviour, and their penchant for D2C and online retail is here to stay," he said.
With this bet on Emiza, JM Financial Private Equity's second fund has made 10 investments. Earlier in January, the private equity firm's second fund led a Rs 100 crore (around $13.5 million) investment in agritech platform BigHaat Agro Pvt. Ltd, as a part of its Series B funding round. Its other bets include ice cream maker Walko Food Company Pvt. Ltd and debt-laden BRFL Textiles Pvt. Ltd (BTPL).
Last month, VCCircle reported JM Financial Private Equity is set to mark the first close of its third fund targeting a corpus of Rs 1,500 crore (around $200 million).