Smartphone re-commerce platform Cashify luggage $90 million in new funding – TechCrunch

Cashify, a market for devices trade-ins and buybacks in India, has raised $90 million in a brand new financing spherical because it appears to be like to broaden its enterprise on the earth’s second-largest smartphone market.

Prosus Ventures and NewQuest Capital Partners led the seven-year-old Indian startup’s Series E funding, Cashify stated on Thursday. Paramark Ventures and current backers together with Bessemer Venture Partners, Blume Ventures and Olympus Capital additionally participated within the new spherical, which included some secondary transactions.

The new spherical, which multiples the startup’s valuation by 2.5 occasions since Series C funding, takes Cashify’s to-date funding to over $130 million. IndigoEdge served because the monetary advisor for this deal.

Cashify operates an eponymous platform — each on-line and bodily shops and kiosks — for customers to promote and purchase used smartphones, tablets, laptops and different devices. Users promote to and purchase units from the startup by visiting the startup’s web site or app.

Additionally, Cashify additionally works with all prime smartphone makers together with Apple, Samsung, Xiaomi and Samsung to energy their refurbishing packages. The startup repairs and refurbishes these units, giving them new lives with out which they could have doubtless ended up within the rubbish bin, defined Mandeep Manocha, founder and chief government of Cashify, in an interview with TechCrunch.

“We have covered the full spectrum, offering a full-stack solution,” he stated. Smartphones enterprise accounts for roughly 90% of the startup’s income, stated Manocha.

The startup is tapping into India’s massive market, the place over 100 million smartphones ship every year and tens of hundreds of thousands of used smartphones get resold.

A major variety of smartphones bought within the nation — and past — get returned to the e-commerce or shops. Many of those corporations work with Cashify as properly, stated Manocha.

But promoting previous smartphones requires establishing a excessive belief issue with shoppers. Cashify has been increasing its presence in India by way of bodily retail factors in recent times to solidify this belief, Manocha stated.

“We have invested heavily in enhanced refurbished capability, and at the same time, selling smartphones to end consumers. We are taking an omnichannel approach, where we have established over 120 stores of our own in 65 cities in the country. We are hoping to increase our presence to 200 cities this year,” he stated.

Cashify additionally has operations outdoors of India, together with in markets together with the UAE, Turkey and Bangladesh. In the worldwide areas, the agency licenses its enterprise enterprise. The agency’s enterprise enterprise contains choices comparable to a diagnostic software to guage a smartphone’s practical and bodily points.

“For instance, if you’re an e-commerce firm that wants to start a smartphone exchange program, you can use our diagnostic tool to pick up old phones from customers’ doorsteps. In Turkey, additionally, we have empowered microentrepreneurs to build a buyback business in their market,” he stated.

Cashify will even deploy the recent funds to broaden its workforce. The startup stated it has been very cautious about hiring new expertise prior to now, an element that has allowed it to not reduce workforce even within the unsure occasions.

“While there is a large opportunity set in the re-commerce space, Cashify has a clear edge as a category leader with its focus on customer experience and its data and tech-first approach to drive scale and working capital minimization,” stated Amit Gupta, accomplice and head of India and Southeast Asia, NewQuest Capital Partners, in an announcement.

“Its leadership position and success of the PhonePro brand are a testament to the quality of the management team and their vision for the sector. We’re excited to be a part of their journey and a part of the consumer revolution that they’re driving.”