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MobiGarage, an India-based B2B e-commerce platform for refurbished smartphones has raised an undisclosed amount in pre-Series A round funding led by US-based venture capital fund SOSV.
The fresh round funding also saw the participation from Artesian, Inflection Point Ventures, MobAvenue, AppyHigh Technology LLP, LetsVenture, and from prominent HNIs including Nikhil Aggarwal, Mrunal Jhaveri, Priyanka Chawla, Nitin Uppal, Rishabh Bhatia, Sourabh Gupta, and Amit Anand.
“The funding will help the company scale operations in Tier 2+ cities and rural markets, strengthen the leadership team, build proprietary technologies and analytic engines and launch a focused D2C brand for Bharat,” the statement said.
Speaking on the funding in MobiGarage, William Bao Bean, General Partner at SOSV & Managing Director of MOX said, “It’s an exciting time for D2C companies: India’s population in Tier 2+ cities is demanding more sophisticated products and a wider range of options. MobiGarage has beaten the pandemic blues to show tremendous growth in over 50 Tier 2+ cities thanks to its robust supply chain, and we’re excited to help the company scale all over India.”
Commenting on the investment, Ankur Mittal, Co-Founder, Inflection Point Ventures says, “India is already one of the largest smartphone markets in the World. Tier 2 and 3 cities are contributing a majority of new smartphone shipments. MobiGarage has the potential to become India’s most trusted brand in the second-hand smartphone category that can address the needs of those aspiring to upgrade their phones and those who are keen to join the digital economy by switching from feature phones to smartphones. The Company has the potential to conquer the MENA region in the next 2+ years as well. This is a highly scalable idea and we are excited to back them in this journey.”
“The digital divide between metropolitan and Tier 2+ populations keeps increasing: there are 500 million people in lower-tier towns and rural India, unserved by global brands but ready to adopt new technologies for shopping, entertainment, and education. MobiGarage is addressing this multi-billion market gap by providing just-like-new, high-quality refurbished smartphones at a fraction of the cost of new phones, completely removing the biggest hurdle in the consumers’ digital journey. We are grateful for SOSV’s continued support as we scale all over India to become a flagship Bharat D2C brand,” Munish Vashishat, Co-Founder of MobiGarage added.