Oxyzo turns unicorn 🦄, BigBasket's 1-hr delivery ⏳, Plum gets $35 Mn 💄
Oxyzo raises $200 Mn in India's largest Series-A round, BigBasket set to launch 1-hour delivery, Plum raises $35 Mn, What is SKU?, Funding Deals & more.
Morning folks🙋🏻♂️,
Start your day, the smart way!
Top tech news of the day, along with a daily dose of motivation, delivered to your inbox.
1 Mail | 2 Minutes | 3 Stories | Funding Deals
Let’s get started
Oxyzo steps out of Ofbusiness’ shadow, turns unicorn in India's largest Series-A round🦄
Oxyzo Financial Services, the lending arm of SoftBank-backed business-to-business (B2B) commerce startup OfBusiness, has raised its first external funding of $200 million, in what is the largest series-A funding ever for an Indian startup.
The new financing was co-led by Alpha Wave Global and Tiger Global with participation from Norwest Venture Partners, Matrix Partners and Creation Investments, Oxyzo chief executive Ruchi Kalra told.
New Delhi-based OfBusiness was valued at nearly $5 billion in December last year following a $325 million funding. Oxyzo, now carved out of OfBusiness, is India's 94th unicorn, according to Venture Intelligence. Oxyzo Financial Services was one of OfBusiness's three verticals. All three feed off each other and enable OfBusiness to provide a full-stack offering to SME customers.
Oxyzo claims to have assets under management of $350 million with a 100 percent year-on-year growth.
👫 How an Indian husband and wife built their own unicorns within a year!
Amid 10-min rush, BigBasket set to launch one-hour delivery with more products🧃
Amid the buzz around 10-minute grocery delivery, Tata-owned e-grocer BigBasket is set to unveil its one-hour delivery service, BB Express, with 7,500-8,000 products on offer.
Typically, 10- to 20-minute delivery services can offer only about 4,000 products as they prioritise speed over selection. The service will be launched next month and will be powered by the company’s 62 dark stores, cofounder and chief executive Hari Menon told.
The new service will continue BigBasket’s multi-model approach to meeting customers’ needs. BigBasket also has a 20-minute delivery service, BB Now, with around 3,000 products, as the race for ultra-fast grocery delivery heats up among players like Zepto, Zomato-backed Blinkit, Swiggy’s Instamart and Reliance-backed Dunzo.
BB Now’s average order size is Rs 450. BB Express, Menon expects this to be around Rs 700-800. BigBasket’s average order size is around Rs 1,300-1,400.
Learn with R&S 💡
What is a SKU?
In inventory management, a stock keeping unit (SKU) is each distinct item among the total items available for sale by a company. The uniqueness of the item could be its colour, size, description, etc. When a company takes inventory of its stock, it counts the quantity it has of each SKU.
Hot Shorts⚡
Accommodation startup Stanza Living has secured $57 million in debt financing led by Kotak Mahindra Bank and RBL Bank.
iSprout, a co-working space provider, has raised $4 million in its pre-Series A funding round led by private investors.
Fintech startup Credilio has raised $4 million in a pre-series A funding round led by Cornerstone Venture Partners Fund (CSVP Fund) and Exfinity Venture Partner.
Skillbee, a jobs platform for migrant workers, has raised $3.2 million in a seed funding round led by Meesho backer Good Capital and Vibe Capital.
D2C brand Plum gets $35M in Series C round from A91 Partners and others💄
Online beauty brand Plum has raised $35 million (Rs 270 crore) in a round led by A91 Partners, which is also an investor in its rival, Sugar Cosmetics.
The round also saw participation from existing investors Unilever Ventures and Faering Capital. It saw the company’s valuation soar to $250 million, founder Shakar Prasad told.
The startup will use the funds to grow its omni-channel presence, accelerate expansion in categories beyond skincare, and expand to new markets. It will also invest in marketing and technology.
Founded in 2013, Plum has a portfolio of vegan, cruelty-free and toxin-free beauty brands in skincare, haircare, personal care, and makeup.
Tweet of the day🐥
🚀 Join our Telegram channel for daily market highlights.
Other Top Stories
💰 Cypher Capital to invest 40% of new $100-million crypto fund in India
🚫 Thailand to ban the use of digital assets as payments from April
"We cannot change the cards we are dealt, just how we play the hand."
- Randy Pausch
Thanks for reading😊
We'll be back with more interesting stories and updates tomorrow.
Follow us on Instagram, Twitter, Youtube, LinkedIn.
Hit 💜, if you enjoyed the article.