Alteria Capital invests Rs 70 crore debt in Dealshare

Venture debt firm Alteria Capital has invested Rs 70 crore in Dealshare, which enables group buying of groceries and other items, it said on April 22.

Founded in September 2018 by Vineet Rao, Sourjyendu Medda, Rishav Dev and Rajat Shekhar the social commerce startup focuses on middle and lower-income population segments belonging to non-metro, Tier-2 and Tier-3 cities.

“We believe Dealshare is poised well to play a pivotal role in bringing e-commerce to the masses in India to serve their recurring shopping needs. The company also empowers regional brands to participate in the e-commerce revolution and connect directly to the end consumer,” said Ankit Agarwal, Partner, Alteria Capital.

Venture debt firms also take a small equity kicker in the startups they lend to, and rely on equity fundraising from the startup and some cashflow for their debt to be paid back. Dealshare is also in talks to raise $70-100 million led by Tiger Global, valuing it at $400 million, Entrakcr reported on April 13.  Its other investors include Westbridge Capital, Alpha Wave Incubation, Matrix Partners and Omidyar Network. 

“We have seen tremendous growth in the last few years as we marched forward in our mission to cater to 500 million new-to-internet users. We are very happy to partner with Alteria Capital as they share a common vision and this capital will help us boost our progress in the right direction,” Medda said.

Dealshare expects to use the debt to expand to new cities and invest in marketing. 

Moneycontrol reported on April 9 that Alteria hit the first close of Rs 1,325 crore for its second fund, much more than it had anticipated. Venture debt has become a popular asset class for investors and startups alike with venture capital for startups flowing freely in parallel. 

Dealshare is also one of the companies which have gained from the pandemic. Online buying has shot up during the pandemic as people stay at home, and in addition, Dealshare’s category of groceries also comes under essentials, driving the company’s business even at the height of the virus-led lockdown.