[Funding alert] 10club raises $40M in seed round to roll up ecommerce brands

Bengaluru-based 10Club, one of the early movers in the ecommerce roll-up space, has raised $40 million in seed funding. 

The funding round was co-led by Fireside Ventures and an international investor active in the space. The round also saw participation from HeyDay, a player in the roll up space, PDS international, Class 5 Global, Secocha Ventures led by Sanket Parekh, boAt founders Aman Gupta and Sameer Mehta (in their individual capacity) and several other global strategic investors. 

The company said the funding will primarily be used for expanding 10club’s portfolio of brands, investing in building its technology stack, and for working capital purposes. Vinay Singh, Partner, Fireside Ventures, will join the company’s board.

Bhavna Suresh, Co-founder and CEO, 10club said, 

“We have already built our foundational pillars of the centralised platform with a strong leadership team, a partner ecosystem and an operational playbook to deliver high performance. The potential to catalyse the entrepreneur, scale their business and thereby build a formidable portfolio under the 10club umbrella is immense. This funding will enable us to expand our portfolio and bring about transformational changes for the businesses we acquire.”

ALSO READ

Fireside Ventures announces close of second fund at Rs 863 cr

10club claims that it partners with ecommerce product sellers in India by acquiring their businesses and working with their teams to help them grow 10x in size. With its centralised platform model featuring market experts in-house, tech, processes, and playbooks, 10club unlocks growth for these businesses and helps them achieve scale. The company is co-founded by Bhavna Suresh, former CEO of Lamudi; Deepak Nair, former Co-founder of 22feet; and Joel Ayala, Co-founder of VC firm Class 5 Global. 

Vinay Singh, Partner, Fireside Ventures, said, 

“India and online-first brands are at the cusp of the next revolution. We, at Fireside, believe that both VC and acquisition driven model will co-exist going forward and can turbocharge the growth of early-stage brands. Together with the team at 10club, we will be able to drive this change and enable ecommerce entrepreneurs to realise the full potential of their brands.”  

The 10club’s 20 members team has engaged with hundreds of sellers across specific product categories to understand the motivations, challenges, and opportunities that exist in the market. The company also takes a collaborative approach to structuring deal structures that will provide the entrepreneur with an exit and see their business achieve growth velocity. It is now focusing on working with select entrepreneurs and helping them to grow their business. The firm has also signed LOIs worth $15 million, and will push to operate these businesses in the coming weeks.

“Consumer spending continues to accelerate globally and third-party sellers across marketplaces like Amazon and Flipkart are the driving force behind this trend that is here to stay,” said Joel Ayala, Partner at Class 5 Global who is also a Co-founder of 10club as well as Chairman of the board. “I am determined to work with the team to make 10club the go-to destination for the most talented sellers and entrepreneurs who want to take their brands to the next level.”