The B2B ecommerce space in India has seen a shake-up perhaps like no other sector in the recent past.

Be it Jumbotail acquiring Solv India for strengthening its vertical play, or Udaan raising funds at 50% valuation drop, or Dealshare running into a rough patch, or more recently ElasticRun focussing squarely on improving margins even at the cost of a slump in GMV sales, the business segment has been bustling with activities.

ElasticRun, for instance, took a 49% decline in operating revenue to INR 2,434.8 Cr in FY24, but it brought along a 42% reduction in its net loss to INR 359.6 Cr. “Margin is where we have invested all our attention as we aim for the top slot in the market,” said the startup’s founder Sandeep Deshmukh.

ElasticRun, which claims to connect brands to rural consumers through over 10 Mn stores, represents the evolving dynamics of India’s $60 Bn business-to-business ecommerce space that comes after deployment of huge capital over the years to bridge the digital gap in a largely unorganised retail market, dominated by humble kirana stores. The funds helped the B2B startups resolve supply chain issues and docked the ubiquitous mom-and-pop stores to the digital landscape.

The B2B ecommerce companies initially tried to restrict themselves to pure tech play around 2010-11, connecting retailers to wholesalers and brands through marketplaces, but later on expanded their operations to logistics and warehouses. This too called for huge investments.

However, with profitability nowhere on the horizon, a slowdown in funding hit the industry around 2023, forcing B2B ecommerce startups to limit both their verticals and geographies, instead of keeping up the expansion overdrive.

ElasticRun, too, was saddled deep into the red around mid-2024. HSBC nearly halved its valuation estimate for the company to $800 Mn after the SoftBank-backed unicorn saw its FY23 net loss zooming 72% to INR 618 Cr. Over the years, ElasticRun has raised $426 Mn across multiple funding rounds from investors like SoftBank, Prosus, and Goldman Sachs Investment Partners.

As the funding winter left most startups in cold feet in 2023-24, ElasticRun stepped on the gas to reinforce its rural play.

Since its launch in 2016, the brainchild of Deshmukh, Saurabh Nigam........

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