Ru-Net is interested in India
Ru-Net of Leonid Boguslavsky continues its foreign expansion. Following investments in Vietnamese internet projects, the company has invested $ 17 million in the development of Freecultr and BeStylish - Indian companies operating in the e-commerce sector. The Indian e-commerce market has already exceeded $ 10 billion.
Ru-Net (owns stakes in Yandex, MJ Group, IConText, Ozon.ru, Aymobilko, Biglion, etc.) invested $ 17 million in two companies that are part of the Smile Group and operate in the Indian online retail market, Freecultr and BeStylish, a source close to the deal said. Representatives of ru-Net declined to comment.
According to Kommersant, in the course of the next round of investments, Freecultr received $ 9 million: ru-Net invested $ 7 million, another $ 2 million from the American venture capital fund Sequoia Capital. The entire company, whose monthly revenue has more than tripled in the past three months (and business profitability is above 60%), was valued at $ 18 million. “Freecultr did not need money (the first round of investments from Sequoia was recently closed.) but ru-Net's experience in e-commerce in Russia was liked by both the founders and Sequoia, ”the source says.
Freecultr, working online, creates clothing and accessories that were not available in the Indian market. The closest analogs are Uniqlo or Marks & Spencer. Production is established in the same factories where Puma, Reebok and Esprit sew their products.
The volume of ru-Net investments in BeStylish amounted to $ 10 million (the entire company is estimated at $ 30 million). According to a source familiar with the deal, they now receive more than 1 orders per day, and it is one of the largest players in the online shoe retail market in India. A feature of BeStylish's business is the launch of online kiosks, which the company installs throughout India in small shoe stores. The buyer can choose and buy a pair of shoes he likes, which is most often not available in offline retail in this region (in a regular store the assortment is from 100 to 200 models, on the website - 6 thousand). Delivery is carried out within three days to the store from where the order was made. The newspaper "Kommersant" writes about this.
Ru-Net of Leonid Boguslavsky continues foreign expansion. Following the investment in Vietnamese Internet projects, the company invested $ 17 million in the development of Freecultr and BeStylish - Indian companies, ...
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