Indian business-to-business (B2B) marketplace Udaan is in talks with UK savings and investment firm M&G Prudential to raise a new funding round of $80-100 million, The Economic Times reported on Wednesday.
M&G, which holds a 15% stake in the company, led Udaan’s $340-million Series E round of funding in December, which was a mix of equity and convertible notes. M&G is Udaan’s second-largest shareholder followed by Lightspeed Venture Partners, which holds a 40% stake.
The startup was valued at $3.2 billion following a funding round in January 2021. However, in January this year, Udaan’s valuation fell by nearly half to around $1.8 billion in a down round.
Udaan may see the latest funding round at the same flat valuation, the report said, adding that the firm is in talks with some family offices as well.
Established in 2016 by former Flipkart employees Amod Malviya, Sujeet Kumar, and Vaibhav Gupta, Udaan enables traders, wholesalers, retailers, and manufacturers to come together on a platform to find clients, suppliers, and products through udaanExpress.
It also counts Microsoft, Nomura, Samena Capital, DST Global, GGV Capital, Altimeter Capital, and Tencent among its investors.
The lead investor in the latest round, M&G Investments, is part of M&G plc, a savings and investment business that was formed in 2017 through the merger of Prudential plc’s UK and Europe savings and insurance operation and M&G, its wholly-owned international investment manager.
