LimeRoad raised Rs 350 Cr in enterprise capital, now bought for one-tenth of that

LimeRoad, which was based as a ladies’s style market in 2012, earlier than on-line procuring grew to become mainstream in India, has been acquired by V-Mart in a misery sale. The worth style retailer has shelled out a little bit over Rs 31 crore in an all-cash deal for the Tiger International-backed startup. V-Mart will pour in an extra Rs 150 crore to develop its omnichannel presence through LimeRoad’s platform and its 1.7-crore buyer base. 

The hunch sale comes at a worth that’s lower than one-tenth of the full funding raised by LimeRoad in 10 years of its existence. Apart from Tiger International, the erstwhile social procuring sensation was additionally backed by Matrix Companions India and Lightspeed Enterprise Companions, amongst others. In its glory days between 2012 and 2015, LimeRoad raised $50 million throughout three rounds, adopted by a smaller infusion of $1.5 million in 2020 from undisclosed traders, in line with Tracxn.

Nonetheless, as bigger on-line style marketplaces like Myntra, Ajio, and even Flipkart Style and Amazon Style took over, smaller, vertical-focused gamers like YepMe, Voonik, LimeRoad, koovs, and Jabong (acquired by Myntra in 2016) began shedding out. As LimeRoad struggled with womenswear, it ventured unsuccessfully into menswear and kidswear, added non-fashion classes like residence and kitchen utilities, and even opened bodily experiential shops. However, its losses continued to balloon, revenues declined, and funding dried up. LimeRoad reported gross sales of Rs 69 crore in FY22, down over 61 per cent from FY20.

Following V-Mart’s acquisition, LimeRoad will proceed to function as an unbiased unit below the corporate such that its “startup tradition” and is retained, V-Mart’s Retail Managing Director Lalit Agarwal stated in an announcement. “With this acquisition we purpose to not solely purchase digital-first millennials however construct our omni-channel experience,” he added.

V-Mart at the moment operates 410 worth retail shops in 254 cities, and hopes to change into an omni-channel participant within the subsequent two to 3 years. LimeRoad Co-founder and CEO Suchi Mukherjee will be a part of V-Mart’s management group because the CEO of its omni-channel enterprise, whereas its different co-founder Ankush Mehra will proceed because the COO of LimeRoad.

“V-Mart is a frontrunner within the value meets high quality house. This partnership helps us basically clear up the standard conundrum at worth costs on-line, and speed up our imaginative and prescient of creating the freshest of style accessible to our core buyer by way of a uniquely wealthy online-offline expertise,” Mukherjee stated in an announcement.

On-line style is predicted to change into a $30 billion market within the subsequent 5 years, and continues to be one of many largest classes of e-commerce.

Additionally Learn: Coolest Begin-ups 2015: Why LimeRoad.com is a powerful candidate for the lengthy haul

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