Can Udaan become the Flipkart of B2B e-commerce in India?

Udaan, whose founders came from Flipkart, became a billion-dollar unicorn in just over two years because it hit India’s massive and untapped B2B opportunity at the right time and place. Can it pull off another Flipkart?

Started just three years ago, Udaan became the fastest Indian startup to reach unicorn status last year

The B2B e-commerce marketplace not only brings buyers and sellers together, it handles logistics and offers credit too

Udaan’s real test will be in converting free users to paying ones, something many vendors in the space are loath to do

It will also come into conflict with heavyweights such as Reliance, Amazon and Walmart

In north-western Bengaluru is a noisy, bustling market, selling everything from onions to rice, flour, pulses and sugar. This is the Yeshwanthpur yard, the city’s biggest wholesale market for agricultural produce. It’s also where a startup called Udaan is now a prominent fixture. A business-to-business (B2B) online marketplace, Udaan is used by about 300 of the 2,500 shops in the market, a rough survey shows. Its growing popularity has seen it gain ground on the established vendor of choice, IndiaMART, in just three years of operations.

About nine months ago, Udaan created a stir in the investment community when it became India’s newest unicorn—startups valued at $1 billion or more.

AUTHOR

Abinaya Vijayaraghavan

Abinaya is a Bengaluru-based writer, covering the sprawling and exciting world of Indian e-commerce. When she is not trying to understand alpha sellers and complex supply chains, she enjoys travelling and playing badminton. Abinaya was previously a reporter at Reuters.

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