New Delhi, Sept 19 (KNN) Power2SME, the B2B Digital Ecosystem platform for SMEs, today announced that it has secured an additional USD 36 million in capital for its Series E Financing round in order to continue its meteoric growth.

The latest round, representing the largest deal size for Power2SME, is a co-investment by its existing investors Inventus Capital Partners, Accel, Kalaari Capital and Nandan Nilekani with participation from IFC, a member of the World Bank Group.

Completing 6 years in January 2018, Power2SME pioneered the category of the B2B Buying Club for SMEs and boasts of a strong digital ecosystem platform for SMEs.

Its increased portfolio offering – addresses challenges in raw material procurement, Finance and MRO needs.

Its B2B raw materials buying club (Power2SME.com) aggregates demand from SMEs for most commonly acquired raw materials (such as steel, polymers, yarns, chemical, etc.) and procures and sells these at competitive prices.

Raw material accounts for 70 percent of the recurring costs of manufacturing SMEs every month. Second, its platform (FinanSME.com) connects empaneled lenders with SMEs in order to provide working capital finance at better terms from banks and non-banking financial institutions for purchases on Power2SME. Third is a one stop shop addressing SME MRO needs (SMEShops.com) to meet the growing and frequent requirements of SME buyers for consumable industrial goods.

According to a press release, “Power2SME will use the additional financing to continue geo expansion, accelerate product growth and innovation, invest in additional sales and marketing resources, and continue evaluating strategic acquisition opportunities.”

“Power2SME’s goal is to empower SMEs to reach efficiencies of scale thus driving profitability for them. Our work has been driven by our vision to make SMEs bankable. Our deep networks and relationships with the banking sector and financial institutions helps us to make our SMEs succeed like never before, said R Narayan, Founder and CEO, Power2SME.

“This capital gives us additional resources to expand quickly and strategically into new markets, innovate rapidly, and deliver on our vision,” he added.

“As demonstrated by their remarkable growth and widespread adoption, Power2SME clearly leads the market in the development and delivery of an Impactful B2B digital ecosystem,” says Parag Dhol, MD, Inventus Capital Partners.

“Our investment will help Power2SME capitalize on the growing demand for their solutions, and accelerate the company’s pace of product innovation,” he added.

“MSMEs will play a critical role in making India a manufacturing hub; and thereby make the growth process more inclusive. The opportunity for both the government and private players such as Power2SME is large and focused and continued contribution could well bridge financial inclusion for the sector,” said Nandan Nilekani, Co –Founder and Non-exec Chairman Infosys Ltd.

“By working with SME-focused companies and partner financial institutions, we aim to improve access to finance for over one million SMEs in the next five years. Bridging the financing gap for women-owned enterprises is also a key focus for IFC’s strategy in India,” said Ruchira Shukla, South Asia Regional Lead for Venture Capital at IFC, World Bank Group.