Faida.com to raise $10-12 million by Dec

Jaipur-based Faida.com, an online start-up enabling users to exchange products, is in talks with a clutch of venture capitalists and private equity funds to raise about $10-12 million (₹67-80 crore). The company intends to raise ‘Series A’ (first institutional fund raising) by December.

“We are in talks with a number of investors and rather than the funds, we are looking at bringing in a strategic partner who could help grow the business. We have touched base with 3-4 investors, both Indian and global,” Vipul Paliwal, co-founder of Faida.com, told BusinessLine .

The start-up, launched on July 15, 2015, had earlier raised a $1-million angel funding from New York-based Right Gems.

Faida.com will use the proceeds for its plans to expand to an additional 14 towns and cities, from the present six. At present, the company has operations across Jaipur, Bengaluru, Pune, Delhi, Gurgoan and Noida.

“We will be foraying into Mumbai and Kolkata within the first 10 days of September, and the rest including Surat, Kota, Ahmedabad and Nagpur, among others, by October,” he said.

The company will use the funding it got from the private investor for the initial rollout, while a full-fledged rollout would occur only after Series A funding.

During the last one month, users have listed more than 8,000 products on the site with a “desire to exchange” them.

Of these, about 650 products received exchange requests from users, Paliwal added.

Faida.com, which works on the barter system enabling users to exchange stuff they don’t need, works on a cashless transaction mode. The company was co-founded by entrepreneurs Vipul Paliwal and Gaurav Jain.

COMMENT NOW