[Funding alert] Cashify raises $15M from Olympus Capital

Online marketplace for used smartphones Cashifyon Wednesday said it raised $15 million from Asia Environmental Partners (AEP) — a fund focussed on the renewable energy sector and environment. AEP is a division of private equity player Olympus Capital.

The New Delhi-headquartered startup will use the fresh funds for multiple purposes, including the growth of its newly launched enterprise SaaS business, expansion of its offline retail segment besides hiring, and investments into branding.

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With this fresh funding, Cashify aims to expand its enterprise SaaS business globally. This is essentially the technology platform it uses to run its operations, which it will now offer to other businesses.

Cashify has evinced strong interest from regions, including the Middle East, Latin America, and Russia for its enterprise SaaS business.

In India, the startup aims to expand its online-to-offline (O2O) portfolio, where it plans to expand its retail footprint. It already has about 60 stores, and according to its CEO, most of them are profitable.

Besides, it also plans to have a distribution network with other retail outlets for phone devices in Tier II and beyond markets.

“The refurbished gadget segment is still a very touch and feel market where there is still a trust deficit. We will build on our O2O footprint over the next four to six quarters,” said Mandeep Manocha, Founder and CEO, Cashify.

Founded in 2015, Cashify provides refurbished devices across segments of smartphones, laptops, desktops, tablets, and gaming consoles. At present, smartphones account for 90 percent of its business, followed by others. The startup aims to increase the share of other categories to 15 percent this year.

Speaking on the investment, Pankaj Ghai, Managing Director of AEP, said, “The management team at Cashify has an excellent track record in building a strong consumer-facing franchise, and building relationships with OEMs, ecommerce companies, and electronic product retailers to be present across all touchpoints for the consumer.”

According to Mandeep, Cashify's business reached the pre-COVID-19 levels in September last year. The business expects to record around 100 percent growth in 2021 from the earlier level of 60-70 percent. It aims to be profitable in the next four quarters.