B2B e-commerce platform JSW One by JSW Group on Tuesday said it has raised Rs 340 crore in fresh capital round led by investment firm Principal Asset Management, OneUp, JSW Steel, and other investors. The latest round marks over 3x jump in its valuation to $1 billion, entering the unicorn club, from its previous round.
The company had last raised Rs 205 crore in April 2023 from Japan’s Mitsui & Co., which helped scale its credit and logistics capabilities and expand into new markets.
JSW One caters to construction and manufacturing MSMEs with solutions around procurement, credit, fulfilment and private brands, leveraging its parent JSW Group’s expertise in steel and cement, alongside proprietary technology and financing tools.
The fresh capital will be deployed to strengthen the company’s supply chain leadership in steel and cement categories, improve distribution and logistics networks, scale the fintech and NBFC arms, and enable wider access to credit for MSMEs.
This will be enabled by building a robust tech stack that creates a truly integrated and digital procurement journey for small businesses, JSW One said in a statement.
Speaking on the capital infusion, Parth Jindal, Chairman, JSW One Platforms, said, “JSW One Platforms is more than a marketplace, it’s how India’s MSMEs procure, finance, and grow. We’re solving critical pain points by combining our tech-led distribution model with JSW Group’s strength in manufacturing.”
The B2B e-commerce market in India has grown considerably in scale on the back of increased adoption of online tools by enterprises including MSMEs, streamlined procurement, and better logistics solutions. With traditional supply chains being digitized, businesses are looking at saving costs along with transparency in operations and operational efficiency.
As a result, the size of B2B online marketplace is expected to grow to $200 billion by 2030, according to a 2023 report by venture capital private equity firm Bessemer Venture Partners. The three most promising verticals in B2B marketplaces would be product marketplaces (offering products across healthcare, agriculture, fashion, FMCG, etc., to businesses), service marketplaces (connecting businesses with service providers such as freelancers, consultants), and marketplace enablers (platforms helping businesses with tools and technology related to quality checks, logistics, payments, etc.)
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