OfBusiness, a platform that helps SMEs get raw materials, becomes the newest unicorn from India

• Its existing investors Matrix Partners India and Falcon Edge Capital also invested in this round of funding.
• Earlier this year, OfBusiness had raised $110 million led by Falcon Edge Capital.
• The B2B startup also gives credit of up to ₹2 crore to SMEs to fund their working capital needs.

There seems to be no end to the unicorn frenzy in India. OfBusiness -- a platform, which helps the country’s small and medium businesses (SMEs) in getting raw materials -- has raised $160 million in funding led by Japanese investor SoftBank.

As per the company’s press note, OfBusiness was valued at more than $1.5 billion. A unicorn, in startup lingo, is a private firm valued at or more than a billion dollars.

Apart from helping SMEs to source raw materials, the business-to-business (B2B) startup also gives credit of up to ₹2 crore to these small and medium scale entrepreneurs. This is done through its non-banking financial company (NBFC) platform Oxyzo Financial Services.

Other than SoftBank, its existing investors Matrix Partners India and Falcon Edge Capital also put in money in this round of funding, as per the press statement.

Asish Mohapatra, chief executive and cofounder of the startup said OfBusiness will gain from SoftBank’s “muscle across capital and international markets.”

In April this year, OfBusiness had raised $110 million led by Falcon Edge Capital.

Sumer Juneja, a partner at Softbank Investment Advisors, said in the statement that they were impressed by OfBusiness’ “market leadership, growth and focus on profitability.”

OfBusiness, which was founded in 2015, was also ranked 17 in Financial Times’ top 500 high growth companies in the Asia Pacific region in April last year.

In an interview, in April 2021, with The Economic Times, Mohapatra had said that the company is preparing for an initial public offering (IPO) in the next two years.






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