India’s ElasticRun Becomes Unicorn With $300 Million Funding Round Led By SoftBank

SoftBank Vision Fund 2 led a $300 million investment in Pune-headquartered commerce platform ElasticRun, valuing the startup at $1.5 billion.

ElasticRun enables businesses to reach Kirana stores—mom-and-pop shops selling everyday needs—in the deep rural parts of India, by deploying a network of delivery services.

Goldman Sachs and existing investor Prosus, which is mostly known for being the largest shareholder of Tencent, also participated in the startup’s Series E funding round.

Major multinationals that have partnered with ElasticRun include Amazon, Coca Cola, Kellogg’s, Procter & Gamble as well as Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Retail.

The six-year-old startup uses its platform to help Kirana stores secure inventory and working capital from big brands as well as collaborate with e-commerce firms. Kirana stores can boost their revenue while big brands and e-commerce firms receive opportunities to tap into large hard-to-reach markets in rural areas.

ElasticRun acts as a distribution arm of fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) companies, reaching over 10 million Kirana stores in India through crowdsourced logistics networks which enables e-commerce access to over 100 million customers, according to its website.

In April last year, the company raised $75 million in its Series D financing round co-led by Prosus and Bengalaru-based VC firm Avataar Ventures.

The startup was cofounded by Sandeep Deshmukh, Saurabh Nigam and Shitiz Bansal, all of whom worked as software engineers at DHL and held positions in other major companies such as Amazon, Apple and Procter & Gamble.