[Funding alert] Naukri parent company Info Edge invests Rs 6 cr in ShoeKonnect, another Rs 14 cr in Gramophone

Info Edge India, the company that owns and operates job portal Naukri.com and real estate website 99acres.com, has invested Rs 6 crore in ShoeKonnect, media reports said. The B2B footwear marketplace, whose parent company is Agra-based Bizcrum Infotech, is among Info Edge’s existing portfolio of companies, and, with the latest funds, it will be aiming to scale its business.

Commenting on this development, Siddharth Vij, cofounder, ShoeKonnect, said,

“ShoeKonnect has grown 10x in the last seven-eight months with unit economics being positive.”

With this investment, Info Edge will hold an almost 30 percent stake in ShoeKonnect. Back in 2018, ShoeKonnect was reported to have raised Rs 3 crore from Info Edge, a funding that was used for strengthening its technology base, scale up operations, and expansion of the footwear buyers and sellers userbase. Before that, in 2016, the startup had raised an undisclosed amount from the Indian Angel Network.

Owned by Bizcrum Infotech, the B2B marketplace was started in 2015 by DU alumni Siddharth Vij, Chaitanya Rathi, and Siddharth Rastogi.

Also Read: Info Edge writes off Rs 186 cr from startup investment portfolio for FY18

In addition to ShoeKonnect, Info Edge has also invested in agritech startup Gramophone. The investment, pegged at Rs 14 crore,  was made via compulsorily convertible preference shares, which will take Info Edge’s total shareholding in Gramophone to 37.21 percent.

Owned and operated by Indore-based Agstack Technologies Pvt. Ltd, Gramophone was founded by IIT-Kharagpur alumni Nishant Mahatre and Tauseef Khan. It’s a tech-based marketplace that provides information on efficient farm management through its app.

Other than ShoeKonnect and Gramophone, there are a host of companies on Info Edge’s portfolio including foodtech, healthtech, and insurtech startups. Some prominent names from the list are Zomato, PolicyBazaar, Happily Unmarried, Printo, ZippServ, and MedCords.   

Also Read: Info Edge invests Rs 5 crore in 99 Labels; total Investment now Rs 28.5 crore