Cashify, a gadget exchange and buyback marketplace in India, has raised $90 million in a new funding round as it seeks to expand its business in the world’s second-largest smartphone market.
Prosus Ventures and NewQuest Capital Partners led Series E funding for the seven-year-old Indian startup, Cashify said Thursday. Paramark Ventures and existing backers including Bessemer Venture Partners, Blume Ventures and Olympus Capital also participated in the new round, which included secondary transactions. The new round, which boosts the startup’s valuation by 2.5x since the Series C funding round, brings Cashify’s funding to date to over $130 million.
Cashify operates an eponymous platform – both online and physical stores and kiosks – allowing users to sell and buy second-hand smartphones, tablets, laptops and other gadgets. Users sell and buy devices from the startup by visiting the startup’s website or app.
Additionally, Cashify also works with all major smartphone manufacturers including Apple, Samsung, Xiaomi, and Samsung to power their refurbishment programs. The startup repairs and refurbishes these devices, giving them new life without which they would likely have ended up in the trash, explained Mandeep Manocha, founder and CEO of Cashify, in an interview with TechCrunch.
“We’ve covered the full spectrum, offering a complete solution,” he said. The smartphone business accounts for about 90% of the startup’s revenue, Manocha said.
The startup taps into the vast Indian market, where more than 100 million smartphones are shipped each year and tens of millions of second-hand smartphones are resold.
A significant number of smartphones sold in the country – and beyond – have returned to e-commerce or point-of-sale. Many of these companies also work with Cashify, Manocha said.
But selling old smartphones requires establishing a high trust factor with consumers. Cashify has expanded its presence in India through brick-and-mortar outlets in recent years to cement that trust, Manocha said.
“We have invested heavily in improved refurbishment capabilities and, at the same time, in selling smartphones to end consumers. We take an omnichannel approach, where we have established over 120 stores in 65 cities nationwide. We hope to increase our presence in 200 cities this year,” he said.
Cashify also has operations outside India, including in markets such as the United Arab Emirates, Turkey, and Bangladesh. In international regions, the company authorizes its corporate activities. The company’s enterprise business includes offerings such as a diagnostic tool to assess the functional and physical aspects of a smartphone.
“For example, if you are an e-commerce business that wants to start a smartphone trade-in program, you can use our diagnostic tool to collect old phones from customers. In Turkey, additionally, we have given microentrepreneurs ways to build a buyout business in their market,” he said.
Cashify will also roll out the new funds to expand its team. The startup said it has been very cautious about hiring new talent in the past, a factor that has allowed it not to downsize even in these uncertain times.
“While there is great opportunity in the re-commerce space, Cashify has a clear advantage as a category leader with its focus on customer experience and its data and technology-driven approach to driving scale and minimization of working capital,” said Amit Gupta. , partner and head of India and Southeast Asia, NewQuest Capital Partners, in a statement.
“Its leadership position and the success of the PhonePro brand are testimony to the quality of the management team and its vision for the sector. We are excited to be part of their journey and part of the consumer revolution they are driving.
