Amadeus Capital Enters India With B2B eCommerce Funding

Amadeus Capital is showing support for B2B eCommerce in India through a funding round provided to IndiaMART.

Reports published Wednesday (March 9) said Amadeus led the Series C funding round for the online procurement platform. While the financial details of the investment were not revealed, reports said IndiaMART will use the funding to scale up its site, as well as its sister site, Tolexo.com.

On a broader scale, IndiaMART said it will also focus its resources on helping entrepreneurs in India through aiding small business launches and inventory management.

The Series C funding also saw participation from Westbridge Capital and Accion Frontier Inclusion Fund.

“As pioneers in this field, we understand that there lies a huge untapped opportunity with Indian MSMEs, as well as big corporate buyers, who consolidate their forces through IndiaMART,” said the company’s founder and CEO, Dinesh Agarwal, in a statement. “While businesses have been followers in adopting the Internet, more so in India, globally, B2B is a much larger opportunity.”

The executive said that India’s B2B eCommerce segment is slated to see its growth more than double by the end of the decade, likely to hit a $700 billion valuation.

“Given the sociopolitical and environmental forces in the country, we foresee larger strides being taken by MSMEs in the coming years,” Agarwal added. “We are elated that we share the same synergies with our new investors.”

According to reports, this marks Amadeus Capital Partners’ first investment in an Indian company. In a statement, Bhavani Rana, who led the Amadeus investment for the firm, said IndiaMART is “India’s most successful B2B-classified listing marketplace.”

“The investment fits Amadeus’ strategy of backing entrepreneurs benefiting from increased penetration of digital technology in emerging markets,” Rana stated.