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Financing Startup Velocity.in raises $20 million led by Valar Ventures & Others

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Velocity.in, a revenue-based finance firm, has raised $20 million in a Series A funding round led by Valar Ventures, which is owned by Peter Thiel.

According to a press statement, the company wants to invest over Rs 1000 crore in India's e-commerce firms.

Presight Capital, Utsav Somani's iSeed, Maninder Gulati (Oyo), Zac Prince (BlockFi), and Philippe De Mota were among the other investors in the round (Hedosophia).

Velocity's total equity raised $30 million, including a $10 million seed round reported earlier this year. Velocity has also secured various debt lines from non-bank financial institutions (NBFIs) in order to rapidly develop its revenue-based financing platform.

Velocity, which launched in early 2020, provides revenue-based financing to e-commerce enterprises in India as an alternative to venture capital and traditional bank lending.

On its platform, it has approximately 1500 direct-to-consumer (D2C) and e-commerce enterprises. According to the company, it has over Rs 1,200 crore in fundable revenues and has already completed 250+ investments across 175 enterprises.

“Our vision is to build the future of business financing in India. We are keen to use this funding to build multiple world-class products for thousands of new-age businesses,” said Abhiroop Medhekar, co-founder and CEO of Velocity.

The D2C industry in India, according to the business, is accelerating and is predicted to increase at a CAGR of 25% from $44.6 billion in FY21 to $100 billion by FY25.

“Increased internet penetration, widespread use of digital payments, and COVID-19 induced adoption of online buying resulted in 88% order volume growth on D2C websites in 2020. However, despite this growth, capital remains out of reach for most businesses. Out of 75,000+ independent e-commerce stores hosted on platforms like WooCommerce and Shopify in India, less than 0.5% are equity funded - leaving a massive headroom for Velocity’s growth,” the press release said.

“Since our last investment, Velocity has grown 10X and secured the lead position in this fast-growing market. Despite this exponential growth, their portfolio quality remains strong. We were impressed by their strong customer orientation, tech-product DNA, and ambitious growth plans,” says Andrew McCormack of Valar Ventures.