[Funding alert] UpScalio raises $15mn from Gulf Islamic Investments, others

UpScalio an eCommerce roll-up company has raised $12 million in a pre-Series B round in a mix of debt and equity from UAE-based Gulf Islamic Investments (GII). Northern Arc and Unity Bank also participated in this round.

In August 2021 UpScalio has raised $42.5 million in Series A round from Presight Capital.

This is GII’s sixth investment in India after backing companies like Bombay Shaving Club, 1-India Family Mart, Soothe Healthcare among others.

Gautam Kshatriya, Co-founder and CEO of UpScalio, said “GII team’s global experience in ‘buy and build’ across industries will be immensely helpful as we aggregate and scale eCommerce brands. We will utilise this fundraise to partner with more brands, to invest in hiring across key growth functions, and to build out other technology and growth capabilities”.

Gurugram-headquartered startup UpScalio was founded in April 2021 by Gautam Kshatriya, Saaim Khan, and Nitin Agarwal. Like other eCommerce roll-up companies, UpScalio acquires a majority stake in high-growth online-first brands and helps founders grow their business by 5-10X over a period of two to three years to exit.

“UpScalio’s core focus on operating brands in all-weather utility categories is differentiated from similar modeled businesses in India and globally. We have been thoroughly impressed with the UpScalio team’s ability to integrate companies and create value across digital marketing, product development, pricing, supply chain, and deep analytics”, said, Pankaj Gupta and Mohammed Alhassan, Co-founders and Co-CEOs of GII.

The company said that UpScalio has built a team of over 120 experts across all functions, who have the necessary experience to grow e-commerce Indian companies.

The company currently has a portfolio of 13 brands across utility categories including Auto Accessories, Home & Kitchen, Furniture, Lawn & Gardening, among others. From this portfolio, the company UpScalio claims a current annual GMV (Gross Trading Value) of Rs 300 crore.