Power2SME, the first ‘Buying Club’ for small and medium enterprises (SME) in India, has raised $36 million funding in a Series E round from its existing investors Inventus Capital, Accel, Kalaari Capital and Nandan Nilekani alongside participation of IFC, a member of the World Bank Group.
The capital raised will be used for geographical expansion, accelerate product growth and innovation, invest in additional sales and marketing resources and evaluate strategic acquisition opportunities.
R Narayan, Founder and CEO, Power2SME said that Power2SME’s goal is to empower SMEs to reach efficiencies of scale thus driving profitability for them. “Our work has been driven by our vision to make SMEs bankable. This capital gives us additional resources to expand quickly and strategically into new markets, innovate rapidly, and deliver on our vision,” he added.
“In 2012, we invested in Power2SME because we believed in SME growth story,” Said Vani Kola, MD, Kalaari Capital. “Since then, Power2SME has shown proof of concept of its procurement offering as well as its finance offering and has emerged as a leader in its category. For India, SME growth and empowerment will help in bringing up the GDP contribution of the sector to the nation and Power2SME is leading this change from the front. We are committed to helping the team become the dominant player in this market,” she added.
Recently, International Finance corporation (IFC), a worldbank member has invested $10 million in Power2SME.
“Our investment in Power2SME will spur greater VC interest in the SME sector in the country and support India’s vision to become a global manufacturing hub,” said Ruchira Shukla, Venture Capital and Private Equity Lead, IFC South Asia.
Headquartered in Gurugram, Power2SME has 5 more offices spread across Mumbai, Chennai, Kolkata, Ahmedabad and Pune. Having started its operations in 2012, Power2SME with its mission ‘Empower SMEs to enable the India growth story’ has a proven track record of enabling small businesses and enterprises enhance their overall productivity and achieve measurable business value through its offerings.
