Indian industrial B2B marketplace Moglix has secured $120 million in a recent funding round, propelling its valuation to $1 billion and marking its entry as the 13th unicorn from India in the current year.
Funding Round and Valuation
Led by Falcon Edge Capital and Harvard Management Company (HMC), Moglix’s series-E funding round contributed to its ascent to unicorn status. Notable participation came from existing investors Tiger Global, Sequoia Capital India, and Venture Highway. With this latest financing, the six-year-old startup has amassed a total of $220 million in funding.
Founding and Business Model
Founded by Rahul Garg, an IIT Kanpur graduate and former Head of Advertising Exchange at Google Asia, Moglix operates as a marketplace for the procurement of industrial products, encompassing categories such as MRO (manufacture, repair, and operating supplies), fasteners, electrical, hardware, pneumatics, and safety items. The platform serves over 500,000 SMEs and 3,000 manufacturing plants across India, Singapore, the UK, and the UAE. Key clients include renowned entities like Hero MotoCorp, Vedanta, Tata Steel, Unilever, Air India, and NTPC.
Market Potential and Growth Trajectory
In the burgeoning B2B e-commerce market, Moglix has positioned itself as an early mover, addressing the significant reliance of manufacturers on offline and indirect procurement channels for 80% of their supply needs, as highlighted in a report by PwC. This strategic positioning has facilitated Moglix’s rapid growth, with revenue more than tripling to ₹217 crore in the fiscal year ending March 2019. However, alongside this growth, losses also increased to slightly over ₹48 crore, according to a Moneycontrol report in March 2021.
In summary, Moglix’s achievement of unicorn status underscores its significant contribution to India’s burgeoning startup ecosystem and its potential to reshape the landscape of industrial procurement through innovative solutions and strategic partnerships.
Clara Cardoso
Mariana Oliveira
