Dunzo, the categorical commerce and logistics firm, has obtained two-three time period sheets from buyers, aiming to lift Rs 300-400 crore, even because it faces its second top-tier exit. Discussions relating to the pooled funds are nonetheless ongoing, in keeping with sources aware of the matter.
The sources additionally added that Reliance has knowledgeable the founders that they don’t plan to amass the corporate or enhance their fairness stake additional. Nevertheless, they’re prepared to help any fundraising efforts.
“Reliance already has a 26 per cent stake within the firm and has no plans to extend it additional. Nevertheless, they’ve assured the corporate of their help for any fundraising and will take into account contributing to cowl any gaps within the total fundraising course of. Nevertheless, the question despatched to Reliance It elicited no response.
The corporate had beforehand secured round Rs 300 crore from Reliance and Google to proceed its operations, which, sources say, will allow it to proceed for an additional three to 4 months.
Reliance and Google-backed Dunzo is on observe to witness its second high-profile departure within the type of Mukund Jha, the corporate’s co-founder and chief know-how officer. On the identical time, the corporate as soon as once more postponed worker salaries for an extra three months, sources mentioned.
This improvement comes a day after Dalvir Suri, Dunzo’s different co-founder, introduced his departure from the corporate after becoming a member of its ranks in 2015.
In response to Enterprise Normal’s queries, a Dunzo spokesperson mentioned: “Mukund stays an integral a part of the management workforce at Dunzo. As we restructure the group with new leaders driving key initiatives, Mukund will proceed to be a key a part of the strategic management workforce guiding and directing the roadmap.” Dunzo.
Though Jha’s departure has not been formally introduced, he has reportedly stepped again from day-to-day operations on the firm, and his subsequent transfer is predicted to be introduced within the coming weeks.
Each Jha and Suri resigned from the corporate’s board of administrators. Guha did so on September 1, whereas Suri resigned earlier on August 29, in keeping with media stories.
Within the final two months, the Bengaluru-based startup has reportedly witnessed 5 exits from its board. Aside from Suri and Jha, they embody Ashwin Khasjewala and Rajendra Kamath from Reliance Retail, and Vidhi Raveendran from Mild Rock, all of whom left in August.
Sources point out that some board buyers took this motion to keep away from going through further liabilities past being minority buyers.
Business sources additionally added that Reliance representatives on the board have resigned to make sure that they don’t incur any liabilities if funds are usually not raised. An electronic mail was despatched to Reliance asking whether or not they would nominate replacements and causes for stepping down. Nevertheless, it didn’t elicit any response.
Therefore, Donzo’s board now contains solely the corporate’s co-founder and CEO Kabir Biswas, Siddharth Talwar of Lightbox Ventures, and Hongjin Kim of STIC Investments.
Notably, Jha and Suri, together with co-founder Ankur Aggarwal, don’t have any possession in Dunzo, whereas Biswas has a 3.6 per cent stake within the firm.
Amid these exits and the continued liquidity disaster, Dunzo has as soon as once more postponed the salaries of its staff, this time till late February 2024.
“It seems that a brand new Dunzo administration workforce might be created as new buyers come on board. Discussions relating to fundraising are nonetheless ongoing,” a supply aware of the matter mentioned.
The on-demand supply firm had beforehand deferred June and July salaries for greater than 50 per cent of its 1,000-person workforce to the primary week of September. It additionally set staff’ salaries at Rs 75,000, no matter their salaries.
Final month, the cash-strapped firm once more delayed worker salaries, extending the interval till November.
In an electronic mail despatched by Dunzo, staff who left the corporate had been knowledgeable that their pending funds could be settled by January or February subsequent yr, with the promise of 12 p.c curiosity yearly over the interval of service.
Since its inception, the corporate has raised about $500 million in funding from buyers akin to Reliance (its largest investor with a 25.6 p.c stake) and Google (its second largest backer with a stake of about 19 p.c).
One other essential investor is Lightrock, which owns 8.6 p.c of the corporate, in keeping with information from Tracxn, a market intelligence platform.
Different notable buyers within the supply platform embody Blume Ventures, Lightbox, Alteria Capital and others.
Dunzo is seeking to elevate $35 million in new funding
Reliance, which has a 26% stake, isn’t seeking to elevate it additional
In two months, Dunzo has seen 5 exits from its board, together with Ashwin Khasjewala and Rajendra Kamath from Reliance Retail, and Vaidehi Ravindran from Lightrock.
Dunzo has postponed the salaries of its staff till February 2024
(tags for translation)Dunzo
