OfBusiness to raise up to $200 mn, eyes $6 bn value
Chasing a valuation of $6 billion, business-to-business (B2B) marketplace OfBusiness has approached sovereign wealth funds, private equity (PE) funds and crossover funds to raise $150-200 million in a new funding round. The company has appointed investment bank Avendus to help it raise the funds. “The talks are in an early stage and the deal has just been launched. The final value discovery will happen basis the investor interest,” said the first person cited above.
The Delhi-based company was last valued at $5 billion in 2021 when it raised $325 million from investors led by Alpha Wave Global, Tiger Global and SoftBank’s Vision Fund 2. It has raised nearly $900 million in 11 funding rounds, of which $802 million came in 2021 alone.
OfBusiness’s fundraising assumes importance in a market where liquidity has dried up for the larger startup ecosystem. Investors have pulled back from backing companies that are burning money and far from profitability. So far this year, venture funding is down to around $9 billion in the first nine months to September, from $19.8 billion in the same period in 2022.
OfBusiness counts Norwest Venture Partners, Matrix Partners, Creation Investments and Zodius Capital as its other investors, and is looking at an initial public offering in the next 12-24 months. “The company was eyeing $8-9 billion in valuation, but due to market conditions, the valuations have corrected, and it would wait for liquidity situation to improve.
