Prosus backs Fisdom, ElasticRun

Bengaluru: Prosus Ventures, until recently known as Naspers Ventures, has backed two new startups — logistics aggregator ElasticRun, and wealth management firm Fisdom. Prosus has led a $40-million (Rs 283-crore) round in ElasticRun. Additionally, Prosus’ payments unit PayU has led an investment of $11 million (Rs 77 crore) in the Bengaluru-based Fisdom. Existing ElasticRun investors Kalaari Capital and Avataar Ventures participated in the funding. Similarly, Fisdom’s existing investors Saama Capital and Quona Capital also put in capital in the new round for the startup. Prosus has backed unicorns like food delivery firm Swiggy and education technology startup Byju’s. Based in Pune, ElasticRun is co-founded by former Amazon executive Sandeep Deshmukh. Fisdom co-founder Subramanya S V was the former managing director at venture capital firm Bessemer Venture Partners India. Both the companies will use the new capital to scale up operations and expand deeper in the country. PayU’s investment marks its foray into the wealth-tech space.ElasticRun provides logistics services using its network of small kirana stores and warehouses to FMCG companies, e-tailers, etc. It plans to extend credit facility to kirana stores in partnership with bank and non-banking financial companies (NBFCs.) “We have about 40,000 kirana stores in our network. The plan is to add 20 lakh more in the next two years. We will be using the capital to expand deeper in the country,” said Deshmukh. ElasticRun is present in about 200 cities and it works with leading FMCG brands and e-tailers like Amazon India. Almost 70% of its business volumes come from non-urban markets. “ElasticRun is one of those rare businesses that identified a massive need in the market, matched it with a local solution paired with technology, for the benefit of all parties involved,” said Ashutosh Sharma, head of investments for India, Prosus Ventures.