IDG Ventures, a leading VC firm in India known for its investment in companies like Myntra and Yatra, today announced that Cisco Investments has invested in its third and most recent fund.

Last year, IDG closed its third fund at $208 million.

The VC firm will continue to invest in deep tech startups in the software/SaaS space apart from consumer, fintech and health-tech.

IDG Ventures India’s third fund was targeting to raise US$200 million and completed a final close sometime last year with over US$$208 million in commitments. The fund has already invested in over 26 companies across various sectors of focus – fintech, consumer, software and health-tech. The fund is an early investor in some of the leading startups like Myntra, Lenskart, FirstCry, Manthan, NestAway, Policybazar, Rentomojo, Unbxd and Uniphore.

IDG Ventures India has had a slew of exits in the recent past, the most recent being Newgen Software which was taken public on NSE/BSE in India in January 2018. Another portfolio company Yatra, is listed on NASDAQ.

Launched in 2006, IDG Ventures India is a leading technology VC fund. The fund has approximately $470 million under management and 70-plus investee companies across consumer media & tech, cloud/software, health-tech and fintech.

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Bangalore-based fashion e-commerce company Myntra today announced that it has acqui-hired InLogg, a technology platform that provides logistics solutions for the ecommerce sector. As part of the acquisition, the team at InLogg has been inducted into Myntra, making it an acqui-hire that will further strengthen and expand Myntra’s supply chain capabilities.

InLogg was founded in 2015 by a team with first hand expertise in fulfillment, technology and business, with an aim to standardize the process of logistics in remote areas and bring in efficiency. To enable reach, the InLogg platform has onboarded local and regional courier players in multiple states across the country. The company stitches composite supply chain using multiple regional logistics players to provide a pan India delivery network.

Over 50% of the e-commerce and retail business in India is contributed by tier 2, 3 and 4 cities and towns. With limited logistical capability and reliability in these areas, InLogg devised a solution to bridge the gap with technology. InLogg is uplifting technology sophistication of regional courier companies by providing SaaS for shipment lifecycle management, mobile apps for pickup, delivery, returns, Cash on Delivery reconciliation, reporting and analytics. This helps in standardizing the logistics fulfillment process and providing needed visibility. With this acquisition, Myntra will be able to strengthen its logistics capability with an expanded reach and improved customer experience.

Ananya Tripathi, Chief Strategy and Planning Officer, Myntra, said “The Inlogg acqui-hire with the platform and capabilities will help us scale while delivering great customer experience in Tier 2, 3 and 4 cities. It will allow us to leverage local and regional players to enhance our reach, reduce delivery time and develop a plug and play model which can be scaled in the future.”

Ambarish Kenghe, Chief Product Officer, Myntra, said “With the implementation of GST, launch of Value added services and continued focus on efficiency in FY18, has led to SCM becoming one of the most exciting areas where we will continue to invest for the future”

InLogg is Myntra’s fourth technology led acquisition. Myntra has previously acqui-hired Cubeit, Native5, and Fitiquette.

Picture credit: Pixabay

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Fynd, a fashion e-commerce portal in India, has clinched an undisclosed amount of funding from Snapdeal’s former Chief Product Officer, Anand Chandrasekaran. Rajiv Mehta, Chief Executive Officer of Arvind Sports Lifestyle, and Ramakant Sharma, Ex- VP (Engineering) at Myntra and Co-founder of Livspace, have also participated in the round.

By joining hands with industry doyens at this key juncture of its evolution, Fynd aims to leverage their expertise and bolster its market leadership position as India’s first and largest online to offline e-commerce fashion marketplace.

Currently, Fynd is the only fashion e-commerce portal that is able to get the latest in-store inventories online much before any other e-commerce player. It optimizes delivery time by sourcing products from the outlets nearest to the customer. The latest investment will further look at reinforcing Fynd’s unique market stance and enhancing its tech infrastructure to deliver seamlessly on its value proposition. All the three investors come with best-in-breed experience and knowledge in the space of fashion e-commerce. Their expertise will be invaluable for Fynd to gain more exposure and build a better product.

Commenting on the funds received, Fynd Co-founder, Harsh Shah said, “Early last year, we completed the preliminary testing of our business model and were scaling up our business from Mumbai to nationwide. At that time we realized the need of expertise from industry majors who can actually guide us in building our product and also give us better industry exposure along with continuous feedback on our efforts. Around the same time, Anand, Ramakant, and Rajiv amongst others showed interest in our concept and the company and decided to help us in achieving our goals. Our major purpose of raising the round wasn’t to gain more capital but to partner with stakeholders who can actually help us with their experiences and expertise.”

Fynd Founded by Farooq Adam, Harsh Shah, and Sreeraman MG, Fynd is a unique fashion e-commerce portal which brings the latest in-store fashion online. The O2O company directly sources products across various categories including clothing, footwear, jewellery and accessories, from the most prominent brands in the country. Fynd’s integrated system allows for speedy delivery within four to six hours, and a complete assurance of product quality. Initially incepted as Shopsense Retail Technology Pvt. Ltd. in 2012, the company pivoted to Fynd in November 2015, and is currently based out of Mumbai.

Recently, Fynd had launched a new feature called ‘Fynd Store’ providing retailers an opportunity to increase sales through omni channel user-engagement. The new feature enables brands to capture the maximum number of sales, build sustainable loyalty and benefit from cross-selling opportunities across different stores of the same brand. By making use of technology and investing in constant innovation, Fynd is constantly working to offer Indian fashion enthusiasts an unparalleled shopping experienceand with this latest round of funding it will be able to deliver better on its brand promise.

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