UpScalio, a Thrasio-style venture that finances e-commerce brands, on Monday said it has invested an undisclosed sum in NCR-based home and gardening brand Truphe.
“The home and gardening category in India has quickly grown to become a $900 million space, and we plan to capture a large chunk of it with Truphe," said Saaim Khan, Co-founder and COO, UpScalio, in a statement.
UpScalio said it aims to grow Truphe to a Rs 50 crore annual recurring revenue (ARR) brand in the next 1-2 years, the statement said. It will work on the company's inventory regionalization, sourcing, and brand marketing to scale the brand, it added.
Started in 2015 by Honey Gupta, Truphe is a manufacturer and distributor of gardening tools, seeds, planters and other accessories. Prior to Truphe, Gupta had founded a business-to-business (B2B) lead generation platform.
“I started Truphe from a room in my house. In addition to operational expertise, I needed to partner with someone who understood the human side of the work we do. UpScalio checked both of those boxes for us, and I firmly believe that their strategy for expanding Truphe will realise all of our shared goals,” said Honey Gupta, founder of Truphe said.
This is UpScalio’s ninth investment since its inception in June 2021. In December last year, UpScalio invested an undisclosed sum in four auto accessories brands - Autofurnish, Destorm, Urban Lifestylers, and MotoTrance. It previously invested in Green Soul Ergonomics Polestar,Trase, and Hestia.
Upscalio was founded by Gautam Kshatriya, a former consultant with McKinsey & Company; Saaim Khan, a former Consultant at Bain & Company and former Marketing and Growth Executive at Purplle, Nitin Agarwal. The company provides funds to digital brands selling on ecommerce marketplaces like Amazon, Myntra, Flipkart and Nykaa. It manages its key operations, including multi-marketplace management, digital marketing, branding, logistics, sourcing, finance, and business operations.
The roll-up e-commerce company said it has recorded over Rs 210 crore in annualised revenue. It aims to acquire five more brands by the end of the fiscal 2021-22, and is projecting a consolidated revenue run rate of Rs 750 crore for the same period.
In August last year, UpScalio raised $42.5 million in a Series A funding round led by Presight Capital and an undisclosed global hedge fund. In India, Mensa Brands, founded by former CEO of Myntra Ananth Narayanan, FirstCry-backed GlobalBees and Fireside backed 10Club, among others, have adopted a similar model.