[Funding alert] B2B startup bijnis raises $30M in Series B round led by Westbridge Capital

B2B factories platform Bijnis (Shoekonnect)has raised $30 million in Series B funding round. The round was led by Westbridge Capital, with participation from existing investors — InfoEdge, Matrix Partners India, Sequoia India, and Waterbridge Ventures.

Siddharth Vij, CEO and Co-founder, bijnis said, “bijnis’ vision is to take factories to the world by digitising and building a globally integrated network of manufacturers on one platform. The manufacturers in the value chain have always been dependent on the middlemen/agents in many ways. bijnis is pioneering the transformation of the manufacturing landscape in India by providing access to tech-based solutions."

The investment will primarily be utilised towards expanding the manufacturers base and helping them grow their factories via expanding retailer base on the platform. Additionally, this infusion of capital will be used for building out technology and products focused on increasing the production efficiency of factories.

Sandeep Singhal, Partner, Westbridge Capital said, “We are excited to partner with bijnis team on their mission to create value for manufacturers by connecting them directly with retailers and helping them improve their operations and sourcing. The founding team has a very strong category understanding, given their family background in manufacturing, and that has enabled them to build a compelling proposition for manufacturers and retailers in the fashion and lifestyle categories.”

ALSO READ

[YS Exclusive] Inside Livspace's $50M expansion plans into APAC, Australia, and GCC

Siddharth said their simple and scalable operating systems help the manufacturers improve overall efficiency as they run capacities at optimum level, as well as have efficient raw material sourcing and capital capabilities.

"We feel privileged and excited to have Westbridge Capital on our journey of achieving bijnis vision of Taking factories to the world. At the same time, we are grateful to all our investors for the faith they have shown in our mission and the ability to execute towards it,” said Siddharth.

Founded in 2015 by Siddharth, Chaitanya Rathi, Siddharth Rastogi, and Shubham Agarwal, bijnis aims to empower and uplift the community of Indian manufacturers and take them to the world. The founding team hail from a deep manufacturing background and has successfully leveraged their past experiences to solve the factory’s demand generation needs and operating inefficiencies. 

Sudipto Sannigrahi, Vice President, Matrix India said “We are great believers of bijnis’ factory-first approach to help fashion and footwear manufacturers grow their business exponentially and discover efficiencies in their supply chains. The last 12 months have been transformational for bijnis, and the scale of growth achieved is a clear outcome of the focused investments in the factory product as well as the retailer's reach. We're excited to double down on our partnership with the bijnis team and look forward to the journey ahead."

bijnis operates in the $100 billion industry that is largely in the unorganised categories of fashion, footwear and lifestyle. Over 5,000+ manufacturers are currently running their business on the ‘bijnis factory app’.

Kitty Agarwal, Partner, Info Edge Ventures said, “bijnis’ factory-first approach in the fashion, footwear and lifestyle space has been a game-changer in building strong dependency of 5k+ Indian factories on its platform. Not only are these factories getting direct pan India retailer distribution with detailed visibility of buying behaviour, but also digitising their operations and sourcing raw materials more efficiently.”

The bijnis factory app builds digital factory profiles that enables small, medium and large manufacturers to expand their businesses.

Shraeyansh Thakur, Vice President, Sequoia India said, “Traditional supply chains in lifestyle categories in India continue to be extremely unorganised and fragmented. Small and medium manufacturers are the backbone of these supply chains, representing a significant part of India’s manufacturing economy, which is at the brink of massive transformation driven by rapid digitisation across layers. The team is very excited about bijnis’s vision of building an operating system for manufacturing in this segment and look forward to partnering with them on this mission."

It gives factories direct access to the retailers and enables them to build their own distribution channels. bijnis connects these manufacturers with over one lakh retailers on their platform. 

Ashish Jain, Partner, WaterBridge Ventures said “bijnis represents quintessential tech disruption in the large and fragmented Indian B2B commerce space. With a founding team that relates to the pain points of Indian factories as well as MSME retailers better than most, Bijnis is on track to create a scaled up game changing company."

YourStory’s flagship startup-tech and leadership conference will return virtually for its 13th edition on October 25-30, 2021. Sign up for updates on TechSparks or to express your interest in partnerships and speaker opportunities here.

For more on TechSparks 2021, click here.