EXCLUSIVE | Trell exits AppsForBharat, sells 10% stake to Mirae Asset and MSANovo

AppsForBharat was founded in November 2020 by Prashant Sachan, a second-time entrepreneur who previously founded & scaled Trell. We are a multi-disciplinary team that comes with a proven track record of building & scaling products.

Social commerce startup Trell has sold its 10 percent stake in spiritual and devotional tech startup AppsForBharat to investors Mirae Asset and MSANovo for $9 million according to sources, giving it runway to keep operations going amid a probe into alleged financial impropriety by its current management.

The $9 million implies a valuation of over $90 million for AppsForBharat and is double its previous valuation of $46 million. Mirae is also one of Trell's existing investors. Moneycontrol was the first to report last week that Trell needed the capital to stay afloat and this is among the options it is considering.

AppsforBharat was founded by Prashant Sachan, one of the co-founders of Trell, which develops mobile and web apps to address spiritual and devotional needs, a thriving market in India. It had raised $10 million in a Series A round in September last year led by Elevation Capital, with participation from Sequoia Capital, BEENEXT, and Matrix Partners India. Entrackr reported on April 4th, 2022 that it is in advanced stages of raising $30 mn in Series B.

Trell was founded in 2016 by Pulkit Agrawal, Arun Lodhi, Prashant Sachan, and Bimal Kartheek Rebba. It is a community-based social network to discuss and exchange lifestyle trends. It pivoted to an influencer-led social commerce platform in 2021, entering the live commerce space where competition is heating up and the burn rate is high.

Also Read | Amid the crisis, Trell employees look for greener pastures

E-mailed queries to Trell and WhatsApp messages to its founder Pulkit Agrawal did not elicit a response till the time of publishing this story. Sachan could not be contacted for comment. This story will be updated when they respond.

Over the last few months, Trell has been facing setbacks. In January, Moneycontrol reported that the company was in talks to raise $150 million from a clutch of investors that would value the company at $1 billion. But these talks stopped as a preliminary audit by Ernst & Young alleged financial irregularities and related party transactions by the founders.

Earlier in March, Trell started laying off employees including content developers and affiliate specialists. To date, Bengaluru-based Trell raised $45 million in July 2021 at a valuation of $120 million and its investors include H&M Group, Sequoia Capital India, Mirae Asset, and KTB Network.

Also Read | Trell raises $45 million in funding round led by Mirae Asset, H&M

Trell was founded in 2016 by Pulkit Agrawal, Arun Lodhi, Prashant Sachan and Bimal Kartheek Rebba is a community-based social network to discuss and exchange lifestyle trends. It pivoted to an influencer-led social commerce platform in 2021, entering the live commerce space where competition is heating up and the burn rate is high.