Sindabad.com raises $4.15m

Local e-commerce platform Sindabad.com has received $4.15 million from Aavishkaar Frontier Fund (AFF), a venture fund managed by Aavishkaar, a leading Asian impact investment company, in order to fine-tune and scale up its business.

Sindabad, the country’s first business-to-business (B2B) e-commerce platform, is a concern of Zero Gravity Ventures Ltd and provides business buyers a convenient, transparent and seamless platform for manufacturing and consumption purchases with direct-to-office deliveries.

“This new investment in Sindabad is beyond simple financing; rather, with the greater investment portfolio of Aavishkaar Ventures, we are looking to incorporate best practices and future collaboration with similar companies and start-ups in the region who have already succeeded in the B2B space,” said Asif Zahir, co-founder and managing director of Zero Gravity, in a statement.

Since its launch in 2016, Sindabad has been growing rapidly. Its clients include leading financial institutions, readymade garments manufacturers, pharmaceuticals, and local conglomerates.

 “We have seen approximately 15 percent month-on-month growth on Sindabad. Currently, we have more than 500 corporate and 2,000 small companies as our customers,” said Zeeshan Kingshuk Huq, co-founder and chief executive officer of Sindabad.

Last year, the platform raised $5 million from a Bangladesh-focused private equity fund managed by Brummer and Partners Bangladesh.

Aavishkaar believes Sindabad has the potential to rewrite the B2B transaction model for corporates and SMEs in Bangladesh, said Sanchayan Chakraborty, partner at Aavishkaar.

“We look forward to working with the team in fine-tuning strategy and scaling up the business.” 

Aavishkaar is an active investor in early and growth stage enterprises in India and broader Asia. This is the third investment of the company in Bangladesh.

There are about 1,500 website-based and 10,000 Facebook-based e-commerce platforms in Bangladesh, but only a handful are attracting funds required to take companies beyond the bootstrapping stage.