B2B startup Aksum Trademart plans to raise US $25 million to fund growth

Aksum Trademart, a business-to-business (B2B) startup into raw material supply to MSMEs, plans to raise USD 25 million (about Rs 199 crore) from investors to fund its expansion plans.

The company has hired a boutique investment banking firm to help raise capital.

"We plan to raise phase-wise capital in line with our growth milestones and for making investment into technology. As per the growth milestones we are looking to raise USD 25 million over the next 12 months," Aksum Trademart co-founder Sumit Bhatia said.

The company is in discussion with early stage investors and family offices to meet the capital requirements, the other co-founder Ankit Jain said, adding that the digital supply chain of the future will require the companies to outsource, that is, to leverage Supply Chain as a Service (SCaaS).

The advantages include end-to-end connectivity, improved productivity, lower cost, heightened flexibility and better asset management, Bhatia said.

On the debt front, he said, the company has recently closed a factoring limit of Rs 2.4 crore with a NBFC to scale up business operations. More such partnerships with other NBFCs and banks are in discussion.

In a short span of seven months, Bhatia said the company has been able to foster relationships with companies like L&T, Jindal Stainless and Tata Projects and supplied more than 200 Stock keeping units spread across categories like steel, coal, tiles, paint, polymer and chemicals to customers.