10club raises $40 mn in one of largest seed rounds in e-comm roll-up space

10club, one of the early movers in the e-commerce roll-up space, has raised $40 million in seed funding. The funding round was co-led by Fireside Ventures and an international investor active in the space. The round also saw participation from HeyDay, a leading player in the roll up space, PDS international, Class 5 Global, Secocha Ventures led by Sanket Parekh, boAt founders Aman Gupta & Sameer Mehta (in their individual capacity) and several other global strategic investors. The funding will primarily be used for expanding 10club’s portfolio of brands, investing in building its technology stack, and for working capital purposes. Vinay Singh, Partner- Fireside Ventures will join the company’s board.

10club partners with e-commerce product sellers in India by acquiring their businesses. The firm said it works with their teams to help them grow 10x in size. The last couple of years have seen the advent of many entrepreneurs who have built sustainable businesses on the back of marketplaces like Amazon and Flipkart; the accelerated adoption of e-commerce by the Indian consumer has further strengthened these businesses.  However, early-stage digitally native brands often find it challenging to scale beyond a particular revenue threshold and their growth plateaus due to increased competition and dearth of funding opportunities. They lack the resources to invest in technology, marketing, optimization tools, supply chain expertise and skilled human resources.

This is where 10club steps in. With its centralized platform model featuring market experts in-house, tech, processes, and playbooks, 10club unlocks growth for these businesses and helps them achieve scale. The company was co-founded by Bhavna Suresh, former CEO of Lamudi; Deepak Nair, former co-founder of 22feet; and Joel Ayala, co-founder of VC firm Class 5 Global.

“We have already built our foundational pillars of the centralized platform with a strong leadership team, a partner ecosystem and an operational playbook to deliver high performance,” said Bhavna Suresh, Co-founder and CEO, 10club. “The potential to catalyse the entrepreneur, scale their business and thereby build a formidable portfolio under the 10club umbrella is immense. This funding will enable us to expand our portfolio and bring about transformational changes for the businesses we acquire.”

Vinay Singh, Partner, Fireside Ventures, said India and online-first brands are at the cusp of the next revolution. “We, at Fireside, believe that both VC and acquisition-driven model will co-exist going forward and can turbocharge the growth of early-stage brands,” said Singh. “Together with the team at 10club, we will be able to drive this change and enable e-commerce entrepreneurs to realize the full potential of their brands.”

The 20-people team of 10club includes e-commerce leaders from companies such as Amazon, Flipkart, Udaan, Reliance, Coca Cola among others. The co-founders Bhavna Suresh and Deepak Nair are skilled in growing and building new startups. Suresh ran Lamudi which was sold to EMPG for an undisclosed amount in 2020. Nair co-founded 22feet, which was sold to Omnicom for a significant value in 2014 and then went on to be the CEO of 22feet, working with large Indian and Global MNC brands.

“Consumer spending continues to accelerate globally and third-party sellers across marketplaces like Amazon and Flipkart are the driving force behind this trend that is here to stay,” said Joel Ayala, Partner at Class 5 Global who is also a Co-founder of 10club as well as Chairman of the board. “I am determined to work with the team to make 10club the go-to destination for the most talented sellers and entrepreneurs who want to take their brands to the next level. Moreover, I am excited to work with Bhavna, Deepak, and the entire 10club team to build the next-generation multi-brand platform in the market.”

The 10club team has engaged with 100’s of sellers across specific product categories to understand the motivations, challenges, and opportunities that exist in the market. They also take a collaborative approach to structuring deal structures that will provide the entrepreneur with an exit and see their business achieve growth velocity. The company is now focusing on working with select entrepreneurs and helping them to grow their business. 10club has built significant traction by being the early mover and successfully integrating businesses into their portfolio. They have also signed LOIs worth $15 million and will push to operate these businesses in the coming weeks.