MUMBAI: SME e-commerce portal power2sme has said it has received Rs 100 million commitment from Inventus Capital Partners which will help it to expand in the Indian market.
Started with a seed capital of Rs 20 million, power2sme has a long term vision of empowering SMEs by helping reduce their purchase costs with the help of experienced and specialised professionals.
Parag Dhol of Inventus Capital will join the power2sme’s board.
As a buying club, power2sme aggregates the demand of hundreds of SMEs that enables the company to obtain good pricing for their procurement needs.
According to power2sme, the business model empowers SMEs by eliminating the need to engage with multitude of vendors, doorstep delivery of the goods through reputed logistics providers, flexible payment options, placing orders online 24x7 and being the single destination for SME for managing purchase requirements across multiple locations.
Power2sme Founder & CEO R. Narayan said that the company expects the company to grow its sales to Rs 10 billion in three years. The company expects to end the first year of its operations with sales of Rs 500 million.
“We are strong believers in the potential of India‘s SME market, and our objective is to expand our business with the ability to cater to SMEs across multiple sectors. The new funds will be used to expand the business and enhance the product offering. We have an aggressive outlook on growth, where we expect to end our first year with annual sales of INR 50 crore (Rs 500 million), growing to INR 1,000 crores (Rs 10 billion) over the next 3 years," Narayan said.
Inventus Capital Partners MD Parag Dhol said, “We fully support power2sme’s vision as a trusted business partner with a mandate to make SMEs more competitive in their business. Backed by a strong leadership team and intimate understanding of the Indian B2B market, power2sme has a huge potential to grow and position itself as an enabler for SMEs. The company has delivered remarkable results in a short span of time, making SME procurement more cost-effective in India.”
“Our focus is towards working with large, established and trusted suppliers, so our customers are assured of the quality of the product that they buy from us. We provide SMEs an online platform that offers information and tools, enabling them to both improve their efficiency and reduce their procurement costs. Hence, our business allows SMEs to compete on an equal footing with large enterprises,” said Narayan.
Commenting on the deal, Mukesh Jain, Founder & CEO, Zanskar Advisors Private Limited said, “Zanskar Advisors was the exclusive financial advisor to power2sme for this transaction. The deal is a significant step forward for power2sme in their vision of empowering SMEs and we are confident that their unique business model will lead to significant business growth and expansion.”
