B2B online marketplace ShakeDeal acquired by PE firm

ShakeDeal, a business-to-business (B2B) bulk-sourcing online marketplace for industrial goods and raw materials, has been acquired by US-based private equity firm Vora Ventures for an undisclosed amount.

In a statement, Vora Ventures said the investment will be used to support Bengaluru-based ShakeDeal’s growth and expansion into new vertical markets and product lines. The team will continue to function out of its Bengaluru office post the acquisition.

ShakeDeal enables procurement through its proprietary negotiation software along with on-demand aggregate buying for reselling or consumption. Its platform offers products such as power tools, hand tools, cement, cutting tools, office supplies, and packaging materials.

The marketplace counts JSW, SAIL, 3M, Coromandel, ACC and Zuari among its clients. The company claims to be serving at more than 20,000 pin codes across the country.

“ShakeDeal is expected to grow at a significant rate, triggered by technology improvements to the proprietary sourcing software and by the addition of complementary services and products,” said Akshay Hegde, co-founder and managing director of ShakeDeal.

ShakeDeal was founded in 2016 by Akshay Hegde, Akash Hegde, and Santhosh Reddy. It has been bootstrapped so far.

Vora Ventures is based in Cincinnati and led by Mahendra Vora. Its group portfolio companies span B2B software, services, and infrastructure solutions. Vora Ventures also owns US-based procure-to-pay provider Aquiire.com. 

Recent activity in B2B space
A few startups in the B2B e-commerce space have raised funding in recent months.

Bizongo, a B2B marketplace for packaging materials, raised $22 million (Rs 146.7 crore) in a Series B round last month from B Capital and International Finance Corporation (IFC) as well as existing investors Accel Partners and IDG Ventures.

A little before that, online classifieds company Info Edge (India) Ltd, which runs portals such as Naukri.com, invested Rs 3 crore ($460,000) in ShoeKonnect for a 20% stake in the online B2B marketplace for footwear.

Last September, IFC’s portfolio firm Power2SME, an online buying hub for small and medium enterprises, raised an additional $26 million (Rs 166 crore) in its Series E funding round from existing investors Inventus Capital Partners, Accel Partners, Kalaari Capital and Nandan Nilekani. 

However, there hasn't been good news for Bengaluru-based Sabonka Technologies Pvt Ltd, which runs business-to-business e-commerce platform Shotang. TechCircle recently reported that Shotang has scaled down its operations while a co-founder has left to join another firm.