Cashify, a market for devices trade-ins and buybacks in India, has raised $90 million in a brand new financing spherical because it appears to be like to develop its enterprise on the planet’s second-largest smartphone market.
Prosus Ventures and NewQuest Capital Companions led the seven-year-old Indian startup’s Collection E funding, Cashify mentioned on Thursday. Paramark Ventures and current backers together with Bessemer Enterprise Companions, Blume Ventures and Olympus Capital additionally participated within the new spherical, which included some secondary transactions.
The brand new spherical, which multiples the startup’s valuation by 2.5 instances since Collection C funding, takes Cashify’s to-date funding to over $130 million. IndigoEdge served because the monetary advisor for this deal.
Cashify operates an eponymous platform — each on-line and bodily shops and kiosks — for customers to promote and purchase used smartphones, tablets, laptops and different devices. Customers promote to and purchase units from the startup by visiting the startup’s web site or app.
Moreover, Cashify additionally works with all prime smartphone makers together with Apple, Samsung, Xiaomi and Samsung to energy their refurbishing packages. The startup repairs and refurbishes these units, giving them new lives with out which they might have seemingly ended up within the rubbish bin, defined Mandeep Manocha, founder and chief govt of Cashify, in an interview with TechCrunch.
“We’ve lined the complete spectrum, providing a full-stack resolution,” he mentioned. Smartphones enterprise accounts for roughly 90% of the startup’s income, mentioned Manocha.
The startup is tapping into India’s giant market, the place over 100 million smartphones ship every year and tens of hundreds of thousands of used smartphones get resold.
A major variety of smartphones offered within the nation — and past — get returned to the e-commerce or stores. Many of those corporations work with Cashify as effectively, mentioned Manocha.
However promoting outdated smartphones requires establishing a excessive belief issue with shoppers. Cashify has been increasing its presence in India by means of bodily retail factors lately to solidify this belief, Manocha mentioned.
“We’ve invested closely in enhanced refurbished functionality, and on the identical time, promoting smartphones to finish shoppers. We’re taking an omnichannel method, the place we have now established over 120 shops of our personal in 65 cities within the nation. We hope to extend our presence to 200 cities this yr,” he mentioned.
Cashify additionally has operations outdoors of India, together with in markets together with the UAE, Turkey and Bangladesh. Within the worldwide areas, the agency licenses its enterprise enterprise. The agency’s enterprise enterprise contains choices reminiscent of a diagnostic instrument to guage a smartphone’s useful and bodily points.
“For example, should you’re an e-commerce agency that wishes to begin a smartphone trade program, you should utilize our diagnostic instrument to choose up outdated telephones from prospects’ doorsteps. In Turkey, moreover, we have now empowered microentrepreneurs to construct a buyback enterprise of their market,” he mentioned.
Cashify may also deploy the contemporary funds to develop its staff. The startup mentioned it has been very cautious about hiring new expertise prior to now, an element that has allowed it to not reduce workforce even within the unsure instances.
“Whereas there’s a giant alternative set within the re-commerce area, Cashify has a transparent edge as a class chief with its deal with buyer expertise and its information and tech-first method to drive scale and dealing capital minimization,” mentioned Amit Gupta, companion and head of India and Southeast Asia, NewQuest Capital Companions, in a press release.
“Its management place and success of the PhonePro model are a testomony to the standard of the administration staff and their imaginative and prescient for the sector. We’re excited to be part of their journey and part of the buyer revolution that they’re driving.”
