Tolexo.com, an online B2B platform that enables SMEs to sell and buy products, is targeting $1 billion (₹6,000 crore) in sales by 2016. The company, founded in June last year by Brijesh and Dinesh Agarwal (founders of IndiaMart.com), deals with heavy engineering, infrastructure and industrial goods.

Brijesh Agarwal said, “There is a huge opportunity in the B2B business in India and we are optimistic of achieving our sales target in just three years. The online B2B business in India is about six times higher than B2C. We are witnessing a 30x kind of growth since the launch. We would be launching our mobile app next month.” In a bid to fund the expansion and additional hiring at Tolexo, Agarwal said it will initiate talks with VCs to raise about $100-150 million in the next few months. It employs about 160 people at present.

Tolexo.com is fully owned and funded by ₹200-crore IndiaMart, which in turn is backed by venture fund Intel Capital and claims to be India’s first B2B online company founded in 1996, allowing businesses to only list on the platform and not transact.

Several players including US-based Walmart, homegrown Indiamart and Saif Partners-backed Industrybuying.com, are betting big on the hugely untapped B2B online market pegged at $300 billion (₹1,80,000 crore), as against $8 trillion market in the US.

According to a report by Walmart, the Indian market is all set to grow to $700 billion by 2020. Reports are rife that global giant Amazon is also looking at entering the Indian market with its B2B platform AmazonSupply.

Industry experts say that the segment is set to witness at least 10-16 investments in this space in the next six months. They further added that the margins of goods sold over B2B platform are over 30-35 per cent.

Even Prime Minister Narendra Modi in his 45-minute meeting with Alibaba’s founder Jack Ma this month discussed the possibility of using B2B platforms to take organic farm goods, handicrafts and products from SMEs to global buyers.

Correction

Tolexo.com is fully owned and funded by ₹200-crore IndiaMart, which in turn is backed by venture fund Intel Capital, and not IntelleCap, as reported earlier.

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