ETtechMumbai: Anar, a business-to-business networking app, has raised $6.2 million in a seed funding round co-led by Elevation Capital and Accel India.
First Cheque and Utsav Somani of AngelList India participated in the fundraising, as did angels such as Pratilipi cofounder Ranjeet Pratap Singh, ShareChat cofounder Farid Ahsan, Meesho cofounders Vidit Aatrey and Sanjeev Barnwal, and BharatPe cofounder Shashvat Nakrani.
The capital will be used for building the product and hiring across functions.
Launched in 2020 by Nishank Jain and Sanjay Bhat, Anar caters primarily to small and medium enterprises across the value chain—from manufacturers, retailers and resellers— helping them connect and interact with one another. The platform has already gained more than two lakh registered businesses.
According to the company, while small businesses constantly need to network to find new suppliers, vendors and customers, over 85% of them have small, fragmented networks. This limits their access to new products, markets and—most importantly—market knowledge, thereby reducing their ability to innovate.
“For all these years, small business owners are used to getting business through their relationships and networks. With Anar, we want to enable owners to focus on something they are good at, i.e., building their network to grow their business,” Jain, who is also the chief executive of the startup, said.
Accel India partner Prayank Swaroop said, “Anar is building the new business social network for SMEs in India. A more collaborative way of doing business, and something that hasn’t existed in India before.”
On the Anar app, all retailers, resellers, wholesalers, distributors and manufacturers can create their own profiles, upload their catalogues, create posts, form connections, post requirements and interact with one another.
The company focuses on onboarding businesses across multiple verticals, especially jewellery, clothing, grocery stores, footwear, leather products, and similar verticals.
“We’ve long believed in the power of networking to empower and turbocharge businesses but observed a gap in the MSME domain which is constrained by legacy relationships,” said Amit Aggarwal, vice president at Elevation Capital. “Anar is taking a unique discovery-first approach to B2B relations (and commerce) and making it truly seamless for small businesses to create their digital presence and forge connections.”
First Cheque and Utsav Somani of AngelList India participated in the fundraising, as did angels such as Pratilipi cofounder Ranjeet Pratap Singh, ShareChat cofounder Farid Ahsan, Meesho cofounders Vidit Aatrey and Sanjeev Barnwal, and BharatPe cofounder Shashvat Nakrani.
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Launched in 2020 by Nishank Jain and Sanjay Bhat, Anar caters primarily to small and medium enterprises across the value chain—from manufacturers, retailers and resellers— helping them connect and interact with one another. The platform has already gained more than two lakh registered businesses.
According to the company, while small businesses constantly need to network to find new suppliers, vendors and customers, over 85% of them have small, fragmented networks. This limits their access to new products, markets and—most importantly—market knowledge, thereby reducing their ability to innovate.
“For all these years, small business owners are used to getting business through their relationships and networks. With Anar, we want to enable owners to focus on something they are good at, i.e., building their network to grow their business,” Jain, who is also the chief executive of the startup, said.
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Accel India partner Prayank Swaroop said, “Anar is building the new business social network for SMEs in India. A more collaborative way of doing business, and something that hasn’t existed in India before.”
On the Anar app, all retailers, resellers, wholesalers, distributors and manufacturers can create their own profiles, upload their catalogues, create posts, form connections, post requirements and interact with one another.
The company focuses on onboarding businesses across multiple verticals, especially jewellery, clothing, grocery stores, footwear, leather products, and similar verticals.
“We’ve long believed in the power of networking to empower and turbocharge businesses but observed a gap in the MSME domain which is constrained by legacy relationships,” said Amit Aggarwal, vice president at Elevation Capital. “Anar is taking a unique discovery-first approach to B2B relations (and commerce) and making it truly seamless for small businesses to create their digital presence and forge connections.”
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