IndiaMART announces participation in the Series-B Investment Round of Simply Vyapar Apps; Stock sinks to 52-week low

25 Jan 2022 , 09:45 AM

IndiaMART InterMESH Limited, the largest B2B marketplace of India, has announced its participation in the Series B Investment Round of Simply Vyapar Apps Private Limited (Vyapar), of Rs217.6cr.

The round has been led by WestBridge Capital, along with the participation of existing investor India Quotient. Vyapar’s valuation post this round shall stand at approximately Rs883cr.

As part of the transaction, IndiaMART has acquired shares for an aggregate investment of Rs61.55cr, via a mix of primary and secondary share purchases. Post this round, IndiaMART shall hold 27% in Vyapar on a fully diluted basis.

Vyapar offers a comprehensive GST billing, accounting, and inventory management mobile and desktop software app for small businesses, which allows them to digitize their business operations. It has over 1 Lakh paying customers for its product.

IndiaMART had previously led Vyapar’s Series A Investment Round in September 2019, by investing Rs31.2cr for a 26% stake in the company.

The company stock was under prssure amid weak markets on Tuesday. At arounbd 9.25 am, Indiamart Intermesh Ltd was trading at Rs5,327.20 per piece down by Rs515.4 or 8.82% from its previous closing of Rs5,842.60 per piece on the BSE. The scrip opened at Rs5,495 and has touched a high of Rs5,552 and 52-week low of Rs5281.15 respectively.

Dinesh Agarwal, founder and MD of IndiaMART said “We had initially invested in Vyapar with a strong belief in the product and in the team’s ability to execute at scale. Its really heartening to see Vyapar grow several times since then - they currently have over 1 Lakh paying customers. We continue to be excited and partner for their next phase of growth, as part of our long term vision to make doing business easy for millions of Indian businesses.”

Sumit Agarwal, founder and CEO of Vyapar said “We are on a mission to digitize the whole ecosystem of MSMEs in India. Having strong participation in our follow-on round from market leader IndiaMART and existing investor India Quotient gives us more confidence to become market leader in our segment. We welcome our new investor WestBridge to Vyapar family. With WestBridge coming in, we become even more stronger to achieve our mission of making Vyapar, the largest business platform, in India”

Gagan Goyal, General Partner of India Quotient said “In 2018 when we invested in Vyapar, neither SaaS for Indian SMBs nor the concept of self serves accounting apps were popular. In the last 4 years, Vyapar has grown well and established itself as a category creator and a leader. More than 20 million small businesses still do not use any accounting software, so there is immense potential to grow, and India Quotient is excited to be part of this journey.

Acquisition of Busy Infotech
IndiaMART has entered into an agreement to acquire 100% ownership of Busy Infotech Private Limited (hereinafter ‘Busy’) for a cash consideration of Rs500cr.

Busy is one of the largest accounting software companies in India. It was incorporated in 1997 and has a pan - Indian presence. Busy had revenues of Rs42.4cr and a profit after tax of Rs11cr in FY21.

“Busy has been an established brand in the Indian accounting landscape for the last twenty-five years. Lacs of Indian businesses rely on Busy Accounting Software for their accounting needs, and their value proposition fits in well with IndiaMART’s long term objective of making doing business easy for Indian businesses. This acquisition further augments IndiaMART’s value proposition and given our large customer base as well as market understanding, we are confident of taking Busy to the next level,” said Dinesh Agarwal, founder and MD of IndiaMART.