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BayTree announced today that it has facilitated a pre-series A investment in Lal10. Lal10, a tech-led, B2B artisan platform started by ex Flipkart, IIT Madras, and DCE alumni, recently announced that they raised $1.1 mn. The round was led by Sorenson Impact from Utah, USA. They also attracted investment from leading Indian angel investors including Slideshare's Amit Ranjan, ex-Flipkart CTO Mekin Maheshwari, Pravin Gandhi from Seedfund along with investment from funds such as Beyond Capital, Pegasus Finvest, Upaya Ventures, Angellist Collective, Gemba Capital.
Set up in 2016, Lal10 helps Indian artisans and SMEs reach out to global retailers. They provide sustainable livelihoods to 1500+ Indian artisans across 8 low-income states by connecting them with 300+ global retailers from 18+ countries such as Zara, Anita Dongre, Toast, Wills Lifestyle, FabIndia, Four Seasons, Taneira, etc. Their mobile-first technology platform also empowers the artisans with required skills and knowledge of contemporary designs and helps them manage their inventory and ordering process better, ensuring seamless delivery and transaction efficiency.
The Lal10 founders have been part of leading global accelerators such as GSBI and GMC Calibrator. They have also been part of Forbes 30 under 30 list.
“Leveraging technology for the first time amongst the rural artisans/ SMEs, Lal10 creates efficiencies in the supply chain by connecting 1500 artisans to global retailers. We will utilize the funds to create a strong technology product to achieve supply efficiency and focus on more international B2B retailers. We will digitize 10,000 artisans in 2020.” Co-founder Maneet Gohil shares the team’s plans.
India has over 9.1 million artisans and the tech-led product from Lal10 is geared to bring the impact of B2B ecommerce to the India that can really benefit from it.
Meredith Shields, Managing Director of Sorenson Foundation added “From our first meeting with Maneet almost two years ago, we have been impressed by the Lal10 team’s thoughtful approach to not only raising artisan incomes but also creating lasting impact to the supply chain so that they can provide long term, sustainable impact to the region”.
"Lal10’s growth has impressed us for several years,” said Kate Cochran, CEO of Upaya. “Their combination of social purpose, strong designs, and excellent customer base gives us high expectations for their ability to create thousands of reliable jobs for rural artisans."
“The fundraising round for Lal10 brought together a mix of impact and mainstream investors, and serves as an example of drawing in a blend of investors in order to support enterprises that contribute towards the SDGs.” said Abhay Garg, CEO, BayTree
About Lal10
Lal10 is a tech-led, impact focused business providing a global market for local artisans to sell their products. The Company provides sustainable livelihoods to 1500 Indian artisans from eight low-income states, connecting them directly to 300+ global retailers from 18 countries, notably Zara, Wills Lifestyle, FabIndia, Crowne Plaza etc. It empowers these artisans with technology, skills training, and sustainable, eco-friendly designs thereby helping them transact efficiently in the global markets. Further information is available at http://www.lal10.com/
About BayTree
BayTree is an assisted online marketplace for impact investing. The firm brings together entrepreneurs and connects them to investors in order to fund and grow innovative and impactful business models. Co-founded by Ramesh Venkat and Anuradha Bajaj, BayTree’s mission is to grow the market for impact investing by drawing in more entrepreneurs and a greater number of investors.
BayTree has built a community investors on the platform including angels, family offices, foundations and institutional investors based in India and overseas. Additional information can be found at https://baytree.in/
