[Funding alert] ElasticRun becomes 7th unicorn of 2022, raises $300M from SoftBank at $1.5B valuation

ElasticRun, a B2B ecommerce startup that supplies goods to kiranas, has raised $300 million in its Series E funding round at a $1.5 billion valuation from investors such as SoftBank and Goldman Sachs, it said in a regulatory filing late Monday evening.

Existing investor Prosus Ventures also took part in the round, the startup said.

ElasticRun will use the capital to expand and grow its operations. It may close the Series E round with a much higher capital infusion if it receives any more interest till March 21, when the subscription ends, according to its filing.

In April last year, the Pune-based startup had raised $75 million at a valuation of $400 million from investors including Kalaari Capital, Avataar Ventures, and Prosus.

Founded by Sandeep Deshmukh, Saurabh Nigam, and Shitiz Bansal in 2016, ElasticRun operates in over 300 cities in India and works with over 125,000 retail outlets. It helps kiranas place bulk orders for goods online, as well as provides an analytics and aggregation platform.

It works with industry majors including Tata Consumer Products, PepsiCo, Reliance Retail, and Coca-Cola to bring their products to kiranas across the country.

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Though the startup has not officially released a press announcement yet, it has disclosed the latest stake pickup by SoftBank's Vision Fund 2 in regulatory filings.

With the latest fundraise, ElasticRun becomes the seventh unicorn of 2022 after Mamaearth, Fractal Analytics, LEAD School, Darwinbox, Livspace, and Dealshare, and marks Softbank's first investment in India this year.

Including the current round, ElasticRun has raised $430 million in total so far, and the $300 million round is its highest to date.

Co-founder Sandeep will hold 12.7 percent of the startup after the deal closes, while Saurabh and Shitiz are expected to hold 7.5 percent each. Prosus will own 22.2 percent in ElasticRun.

ElasticRun is owned and operated by Ntex Transportation Services.