Blacksoil Capital Invests INR 12 Cr In Freightwalla, UpMoney And Rapidbox The firm has successfully concluded over 50 debt transactions to VC-backed growth companies/startups by deploying more than INR 500 crore in the past 4.5 years
By Prabhjeet Bhatla •
Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.
You're reading Entrepreneur India, an international franchise of Entrepreneur Media.
Sector-agnostic alternative credit platform Blacksoil Capital announced on Tuesday that it has invested over INR 12 crore in digital freight forwarding startup Freightwalla, UpMoney NBFC, and D2C affordable fashion player Rapidbox.
The firm has successfully concluded over 50 debt transactions to VC-backed growth companies/startups by deploying more than INR 500 crore in the past 4.5 years.
"We have provided debt funds tailored for these companies to provide cash to meet the growth and working capital needs which are crucial for the fast-paced growth these companies are witnessing. We hope to build upon these relationships to be their long-term partners as they scale manifold in a sustainable manner. Blacksoil is excited with the vast opportunity available for these companies to tap and grow exponentially in a coming couple of years," said Ankur Bansal, co-founder, and director, BlackSoil.
Founded in 2016 by Sanjay Bhatia, Punit Java, and Bharat Thanvi, Freightwalla operates a tech-enabled freight forwarding and logistics portal that offers planning, booking, tracking, and automated documentation services for international freight shipments. The company has achieved fourfold growth in revenue since its Series A funding despite the pandemic last year. Volumes have doubled from pre-COVID highs from major trade routes including Middle East, Africa, Europe, and Far East.
Whereas, Up Money is an NBFC that provides small ticket size business loans both secured and unsecured to MSMEs and two-wheeler financing solutions through a traditional branch model. It has disbursed over INR 700 crore to date and has over 92,000 active customers as of date. Despite the pandemic and the ensuing lockdown, the company has raised over INR 125 crore in debt from both repeat and new lenders in FY21.
Lastly, Rapidbox is an online direct from the factory to consumer fashion brand under the affordable segment that operates in categories like footwear, apparel, and accessories. With in-house design and manufacturing, the company is able to provide good quality made-in-India products with the latest trends at an extremely reasonable average price of around INR 400 through its android app and has started pan-India operations recently and are currently delivering over 40,000 orders a month.
BlackSoil Capital has also raised INR 125 crore in the first close for its maiden secured BlackSoil India Credit Fund, recently and its portfolio includes OYO, Spinny, Purplle, Zetwerks, Vogo, LetsTransport, EarlySalary, and iNurture, among others.
