Mumbai-based Moksha Group buys Arzooo assets in fire sale – Industry News

Mumbai-headquartered Moksha Group, which distributes electrical appliances along with some fintech operations, has acquired the strategic assets of retail startup Arzooo for an undisclosed amount. Arzooo struggled to stay afloat amid layoffs, funding shortfalls and pending payments to vendors and employees.

The group has appointed e-commerce veteran Rehan Shaikh as co-founder and chief executive officer of Arzooo. Sheikh previously held leadership positions at Clicktech, Cloudtail and Amazon.

Arzooo is a B2B e-commerce platform that enables small and medium-sized retailers to purchase a wide range of consumer electronics such as refrigerators, air conditioners and TVs at competitive prices to effectively compete with large retailers and e-commerce giants. The company also provides working capital and access to credit to these retailers.

Founded by former Flipkart employees Khushnood Khan and Rishi Raj Rathore, Arzooo has raised around $90 million over 11 rounds from investors such as Celesta Capital, Trifecta Capital, Alteria Capital, SBI Investment and 3Lines, among others.

After raising a $70 million Series B round in June 2022, it raised another $4.6 million in an extension of that funding round last May and has been struggling to raise enough capital ever since. According to Tracxn, in January of this year the company managed to raise $84,000.

Since October last year, the company has laid off most of its employees in several rounds. According to media reports, the company had 400 employees in the second half of 2023, up from about 30 at the beginning of this year. The company also failed to make payments to a large number of its distribution partners and went out of business during the first few months of this year.

Arzooo now has a pan-India presence offering services to over 30,000 retailers across 250 cities. “By providing innovative technology, access to credit and affordable leverage such as low-cost EMIs, Moksha Group will enable small retailers to strengthen their position in the emerging market, helping them compete and grow sustainably,” the companies said in a statement.