Info Edge, the largest shareholder of Bizcrum Infotech, Bijnis’ holding company, has written off its entire investment in the Indian startup, citing “principles of conservatism and prudence” in the latest drastic market correction in the burgeoning South Asian ecosystem struggling with the weakening global economy.
The listed Indian investor had invested about $9.3 million in the New Delhi-headquartered startup, which has raised more than $43 million to date and counts Sequoia India, Matrix Partners India, Waterbridge and Westbridge among its backers.
The Phase B startup, with the last round of funding announced in September 2021, aims to be the “operating system for factories”, helping the factories to handle inventory and also generating demand from buyers and other retailers.
Info Edge said it wrote off its investment in Bijnis under “principles of conservatism and prudence and after careful consideration of factors such as continued cash burn, limited availability of cash relative to unspecified repurchase commitments (including liquidation preference) of the company. company to investors under the shareholder agreement.”
However, we will continue to evaluate the position and work with the other shareholders to remedy the situation.
Rishabh Katiyar, Principal at Info Edge Ventures, said in a statement to Acutely.info that the write-off in Bijnis was “a technical write-off due to the unspecified liabilities” that may arise “as a result of the buyback obligations in the existing shareholder agreement signed between the company and the investors.”
He added:
“This obligation is contingent in nature and is discounted based on the conservative accounting policies followed by the company in accordance with IndAS accounting standards. Therefore, it is not a reflection of the company’s financial performance, market opportunity and value proposition. Furthermore, this liability would materialize only if the company is unable to provide an exit to the major investors through other exit mechanisms such as third party sales, listing, among other mechanisms stipulated in the agreements at a certain date in the future and all major shareholders together. choose to exercise the repurchase right as an exit mechanism.”
The announcement follows Info Edge which on Friday posted a $33.4 million loss at 4B Networks, another startup that recently wrote it off. 4B Networks was founded by infamous Housing.com founder Rahul Yadav, and Info Edge held a 57% stake in the newer startup.
The write-offs caused a total loss of $8.4 million for Info Edge in the fiscal year ending March 2023, a sharp departure from the $1.55 billion profit it posted the year before. As Indian news and analysis website The Arc noted, this is Info Edge’s first net loss in six years.
