E-commerce major Flipkart’s Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Kalyan Krishnamurthy has made a personal investment in B2B e-marketplace Moglix. This is Krishnamurthy’s first individual backing of a company in the B2B e-commerce space.
Krishnamurthy, who also holds overall responsibility for leading fashion portals Myntra and Jabong, said in a statement, “I am happy to join the Moglix team as an investor in my personal capacity. Moglix, under Rahul’s leadership, has charted impressive growth in the B2B commerce space and is creating meaningful impact on the manufacturing industry through innovative use of technology. It is gratifying to be able to support this home-grown industrial B2B leader at this important juncture.”
Moglix, a Ratan Tata-backed company is on of the leading B2B portal for industrial goods, had raised a Series C funding round that raised $23 million in December to strengthen its B2B distribution network and supply chain across India and expanding into new market segments.
Moglix’s existing investors include Accel Partners, Jungle Ventures, Venture Highway and International Finance Corporation (IFC), part of the World Bank Group, Shailesh Rao and InnoVen Capital.
India’s B2B e-commerce market is expected to expand significantly over the coming decade, making it a major growth area for the economy. Research suggests it will likely assume a size that will be double the estimated $200 billion market of B2C e-commerce by 2026. Technological disruptions however remain key with a vast majority of the existing B2B market still in the unorganized space in India.
With a robust team comprising of over 450+ people, Moglix currently operates across 12 centres in India and caters to both institutional customers (B2B) and individual customers (B2C) in the manufacturing sector. It currently focuses on the automotive, metals, mining, and fast-moving consumer durables (FMCD) markets.
Rahul Garg, Founder and CEO, Moglix said, “It’s great to have Kalyan back us as an investor and join an illustrious list of global investors who have believed in Moglix’s potential. Kalyan has played an important role in shaping e-commerce in India and his experience in scaling businesses will serve as a guiding light for us as we execute on our vision to transform B2B commerce and the Indian manufacturing sector using technology and innovation.”