Tiger Global Management LLC has struck a new deal by investing in business-to-business agri-marketing platform Ninjacart, underlining its renewed interest in India's startup ecosystem after lying low for three years.
The US-based investment firm has invested Rs 625 crore ($90 million) for a 26.47% stake, according to Ninjacart's filing with the Ministry of Corporate Affairs.
Ninjacart, which is operated by 63Ideas Infolabs Pvt. Ltd, issued 20,442 Series C compulsorily convertible preference shares at Rs 3,04,142.78 per share in lieu of this investment from Tiger Global. The Bengaluru-based company also provided 100 equity shares with a value of Rs 100.
Data research platform Paper.vc first reported the development.
The funding comes within five months of Ninjacart having raised Rs 250 crore in a Series B funding round led by US-based venture capital firm Accel and Switzerland-based agri investor Syngenta Ventures in December last year.
Ninjacart has raised close to $150 million so far and counts Accel, Infosys co-founder Nandan Nilekani’s NRJN Trust; South Korean-based Neoplux, the venture arm of the Doosan Corp; Joe Hirao, founder of multi-business firm ZIGExN; Russian venture firm HR Capital; venture debt firm Trifecta Capital; Japanese venture capital firm-cum-accelerator Misteltoe; and Qualcomm Ventures.
Founded in July 2015, Ninjacart initially began as a hyper-local grocery delivery company but then shifted to a B2B setup. Farmers can sell vegetables and fruits directly to business establishments such as shops, retailers and restaurants via the startup’s platform. The company was co-founded by Kartheeswaran KK, Nagarajan, Sharath Loganathan, Ashutosh Vikram, Sachin P J, and Vasudevan Chinnathambi, who have earlier worked at Commonfloor, OlaCabs, HT Media, Verizon Labs, Taxiforsure, and others.
Tiger Global
The investment firm has been one of the early and prime movers in India's startup ecosystem. It had invested early in Flipkart in 2009 and racked up $3 billion when US retailer Walmart Inc. bought a majority stake in the Indian e-commerce firm last year.
However, Tiger Global had remained dormant for three years until it struck a new bet again in December last year by investing in Roposo, a social platform for sharing photos and videos.
Subsequently in February, Tiger Global led an investment in expense management startup Fyle Technologies Pvt. Ltd. This was followed by a $56 million investment along with Matrix Partners India in ride-hailing firm Ola’s electric mobility arm, Ola Electric Mobility Pvt. Ltd, in March.
Earlier this month, it participated in a co-investment round in customer lifecycle management platform CleverTap.
In a surprise announcement in March, Tiger Global said that Lee Fixel, under whom it had led the Flipkart deal, would resign. Fixel, Tiger Global’s private equity business head, joined a string of top executives leaving their investment firms to strike it out on their own.