Info Edge, the largest shareholder in Bizcrum Infotech, the holding firm of Bijnis, has written off its entire investment in the Indian startup, citing “principles of conservatism and prudence,” in the latest drastic market correction in the fast-growing South Asian ecosystem grappling with the weakening global economy.
The publicly listed Indian investor had invested about $9.3 million in the New Delhi-headquartered startup, which has overall raised over $43 million to date and counts Sequoia India, Matrix Partners India, Waterbridge and Westbridge among its backers.
The Series B-stage startup, whose last funding round was disclosed in September 2021, aims to be the “operating system for factories,” helping the plants procedure supplies and also generate demand from buyers and other retailers alike.
Info Edge said it was writing off its investment in Bijnis following the “principles of conservatism and prudence and after due consideration of factors including continuing cash burn, limited availability of cash in proportion to unspecified liabilities with respect to buyback obligations (including liquidation preference) of the company towards investors under the shareholders agreement.”
“However, we will continue to evaluate the position and work with the other shareholders to remedy the situation,” it assured.
The announcement follows Info Edge disclosing on Friday a loss of $33.4 million in 4B Networks, another startup it wrote off recently. 4B Networks was founded by Housing.com’s infamous founder Rahul Yadav and Info Edge owned a 57% stake in the newer startup.
The write-offs triggered an overall loss of $8.4 million for Info Edge in the financial year ending March 2023, a sharp departure from the $1.55 billion profit it had posted the year prior. As the Indian news and analysis website The Arc pointed out, this is the first net loss for Info Edge in six years.
