Reliance Retail acquires Urban Ladder for Rs182.12 cr in distress sale
20 Nov 2020
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Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) has acquired a majority stake in struggling furniture seller Ur, ban Ladder for a cash consideration of Rs 182.12 crore, broadening its e-commerce reach as the country’s largest online retailer readies to take online retail majors Amazon and Flipkart head on.
RIL subsidiary Reliance Retail Ventures Ltd (RRVL) acquired 96 per cent stake in the Bengaluru-based firm, for a cash consideration of Rs182.12 crore, in a distress sale.
In a filing to the local stock exchange, Reliance Retail said it had acquired a 96 per cent stake in Urban Ladder for Rs182.12 crore (about $24.43 million). RRVL said it hs the option to acquire the remainder stake in Urban Ladder, adding that it proposes to invest up to Rs75 crore (about $10.06 million) in Urban Ladder by December 2023.
Founded in early 2012, Urban Ladder sells home furniture and decor products online. It also operates a chain of physical retail stores in several Indian cities.
The startup had raised about rs700 crore ($115 million) from Sequoia Capital, SAIF Partners, Steadview Capital, and MIT and other investors, according to Crunchbase and Tracxn. In the financial year that ended in March, the startup reported a loss of Rs493 crore (Rs$6.63 million) on a turnover of Rs4330 crore ($58.2 million).
Urban Ladder is the latest acquisition for Reliance Retail, which earlier this year said it had entered into a $3.4 billion deal with Future Group to buy several of India’s second largest retail chain’s businesses.
In August, Reliance acquired a 60 per cent stake in pharma marketplace Netmeds’ parent firm Vitalic for about $83.2 million.
Reliance Retail, which serves more than 3.5 million customers each week through its nearly 12,000 physical stores in more than 6,500 cities and towns in the country, has raised about $6.4 billion in recent months, including from Facebook.
Reliance Retail entered the e-commerce space with JioMart through a joint venture with Jio Platforms.
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