Consumer Goods Startup UpScalio Raises $15 Million in Pre-series B Round

Consumer goods startup UpScalio has raised $15 million in pre-series-B round, adding on to its mega series A round fundraise of $42.5 million in August 2021.

Founded in 2021, the company, which positions itself as a digitally led "House of Brands' is the brainchild of former McKinsey & Co. consultant Gautam Kshatriya, former Bain & Co. consultant Saaim Khan, and former Disney Hotstar and Purplle marketing and growth executive, Nitin Agarwal. The company works by acquiring e-commerce businesses that sell on Amazon, Flipkart and other marketplaces, and their own websites, giving founder the option to generate wealth by exiting.

On the investment, Kshatriya, co-founder and CEO, UpScalio, said, "We are absolutely thrilled to have GII partner with us on our growth journey. GII team's global experience in "buy and build' across industries will be immensely helpful as we aggregate and scale ecommerce brands. We will utilize this fundraise to partner with more brands, to invest in hiring across key growth functions, and to build out other technology and growth capabilities."

The pre-series B fundraiser was led by Gulf Islamic Investments (GII), with participation from a consortium of lenders including Northern Arc and Unity Bank. This also marks GII's early foray into building its portfolio in India. Its investment in UpScalio marks its sixth investment in its second Indian Growth Portfolio launched in 2021.

Pankaj Gupta and Mohammed Alhassan, co-founders and co-CEOs of GII, said, "UpScalio's core focus on operating brands in all-weather utility categories is differentiated from similar modelled businesses in India and globally. We have been thoroughly impressed with the UpScalio team's ability to integrate companies and create value across digital marketing, product development, pricing, supply chain and deep analytics. We believe UpScalio's brands are on the trajectory of becoming category leaders and household names."