India’s first recurring revenue trading platform, BridgeUp has raised USD 1 million in seed funding from marquee investors and industry stalwarts.
The lead investor is Darshan Patel – Founder, Vini Cosmetics. Other investors include Rajesh Doshi – Founder & Managing Director of Steer Advisors, Kunal Haria – Principal, IIFL Wealth, and Aaryaman Vir – Cofounder, Prophetic Ventures, Rohan Suri – Director, KKR & Co, Ankit Aggarwal – Principal, KKR & Co., Sumeet & Hemant Kabra -, RR Global and Harman Sachdeva.
Started in 2020, BridgeUp is APAC’s first recurring revenue trading platform that allows businesses to obtain cash quickly without the hassles of traditional fundraising or the debt or dilution that come with it. Companies can trade the annual value of their monthly contracts and get their entire revenue upfront. BridgeUp enables the transactions without compromising or diluting the equity of the company.
Zeus Dhanbhura, Founder & CEO, BridgeUp informed, “The company plans to utilize the funds for product development, team expansion, and further scaling up operations. We have facilitated significant disbursal in capital to companies on our platform. The types of companies range from B2B SaaS, EV Charging, Services to co-working spaces and more; we are attracting a healthy mix across the entire target segment of recurring revenue based companies.”
“The rates at which we are disbursing these amounts is by far the lowest in India and closely comparable to our competitors in the western markets which is a tremendous feat considering the difference in lending rates in India and the West. As our name suggests, we are helping bridge multiple gaps in the financial world. The total volume of contracts on our platform is in excess of $150m already.”
“We believe that our model works in tandem with equity financing. With BridgeUp, a company which requires capital doesn’t need to look to VCs as their only option. Our model allows businesses to grow the way they want without any premature dilution of ownership to founders and early-stage investors. This also empowers them to secure better valuations for later rounds”, said Zeus
BridgeUp’s model was appealing to Darshan Patel, MD and Founder of Vini Cosmetics. “BridgeUp is a fascinating tool that should have been here in India a long time ago. The need for a product like this which gets you access to capital within days cannot be overstated. “
Vijay Yalamanchili, CEO & Founder of Keka HR – a leading SaaS player in the HRMS space said that he was on the lookout for a product like this for a while. He says “My interaction with BridgeUp has been great. I called Zeus and he had a bid lined up for me within 24 hours and the cash was in our account within a week. Now, we have access to a line of capital that we can draw upon anytime within 24 hours. This access to quick capital that BridgeUp provides is invaluable for founders who have achieved product market fit. BridgeUp works beautifully for SaaS founders, but I can imagine it working for a lot of other kinds of companies with recurring revenue as well. I have already given BridgeUp our capital requirements for the rest of the year”.
Rajesh Doshi – Founder, Steer Advisors also mentioned that BridgeUp is not just a India play. “We believe BridgeUp’s offering is global in nature and provides a win-win both for the companies that borrow and for the investors who lend – fulfilling a required gap in the capital markets across the globe.”