Homegrown B2B marketplace Solv raises $40 mn to empower MSMEs

BENGALURU: B2B digital marketplace for small businesses Solv on Monday said it has raised $40 million in its latest round of funding led by Japans SBI Holdings with participation from SC Ventures.

The round took Solv's total funding to nearly $80 million to date.

Solv said it has become India's fastest growing B2B marketplace, with more than 220,000 KYC-verified MSMEs base and a 10 times growth of gross merchandise value (GMV) with 60 per cent repeats.

"This strategic partnership and investment will give us significant tailwinds and help us become a dominant B2B player over the next 12-18 months," said Amit Bansal, CEO, Solv.

Solv said it will use the funds to launch additional high-margin product categories and expand to more than 300 cities in India, and drive expansion of BNPL (buy now pay later) loans, particularly in the NTC (new-to-credit) segment.

Solv is building a global tech-stack from India to help expand operations in multiple countries in Africa and Southeast Asia.

"Our investment in Solv is a reinforcement of our commitment to developing economies, especially India," said Yoshitaka Kitao, CEO, SBI Holdings.

Solv clocked $260 million GMV run-rate in the first half of 2022 with about 60 per cent average repeated purchases.

It now targets half a billion-dollar GMV run-rate and positive unit economics by December 2022 from the India market alone.