Investing in Nexxio

Digitising MSMEs of India: Malpani Ventures leads $375k pre-seed round in Nexxio

A core thesis at Malpani Ventures is investing in B2B software companies solving real problems for Indian enterprises and MSMEs – I personally call it building the SAPs and Oracles of India. Much like the success of on-prem ERP companies in the USA and Europe, I believe we will see cloud-native winners emerge which simplify processes for Indian cos. by either saving costs or amplifying revenue.

While traditionally Indian companies have been reluctant to pay for software, there has been a definite shift post-Covid. Business owners have realized the need for platforms that improve business productivity via real-time data and insights: Dependence on manual processes represents a real risk for businesses.  

We want to back founders who think grounds-up with an India-first mindset:

Assessment criteria for SaaS cos by Indian customers

And we believe, Nexxio solves all the above questions seamlessly:

Deal Announcement:

We are pleased to announce that Malpani Ventures has led the pre-seed round ($375k) of Nexxio.

We are delighted to partner with Dhiraj Bhandari and the team as they digitise the sales & distribution function of Indian MSMEs. The round also saw participation from Asan Ventures (Aniketh Jain, Ashish Agarwal) and Vyapar Co-founders (Sumit Agarwal, Shubham Agrawal, Malay Krishna).    

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About Nexxio:

Nexxio is a B2B SAAS company that helps Indian SME brands digitise, automate & optimise their sales and distribution operations through a single platform.

Nexxio brings a company’s on-ground sales force, distributors, dealers, and influencers onto a singular platform offering them 24*7, real-time access to business operations and information.

Dhiraj and the team have built the platform based on direct and real client feedback. Nexxio serves customers across several categories and is trusted by several marquee clients including Nilkamal, TTK Prestige, EagleCoats, Sonet Sanitarywares, ELICA Whirlpool, Servokon, Sturlite, Kaveri Tanks, and Sunflame amongst others.

While there exist other software solutions in the market, Nexxio offers a 360’ platform for brands to automate, manage, optimize, and grow their sales & distribution operations pan-India and globally.

Nexxio’s key offerings for customers

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Solving a clear need:

The MSME industry in India follows manual processes for its sales & distribution (S&D) operations. However, with the advent of cheap and fast internet access as well as huge smartphone adoption, many MSMEs have already been using WhatsApp, google sheets, emails, etc (instead of pen/paper) for their day-to-day business interactions and data (orders, collections, pricing, etc). However, while these tools are easy to learn and access (and free) they do not serve well enough beyond a certain scale - in terms of automating the business, gaining proper business visibility, data access and security, and standardising and optimising S&D operations

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Customer Impact:

We are big believers in SaaS platforms with a service-oriented mindset, especially for the Indian market. Nexxio’s software solves the following key issues, which are critical for manufacturers:

• Sales force productivity

• Inventory management and visibility across the supply chain

• Incentive/ Sales promotion management

Some key outcomes delivered by Nexxio for its customers:

1. After Nexxio’s digital platform adoption, a regional water storage tank manufacturer launched a scheme that guarantees 24-hour on-site delivery to dealers (Almost Amazon-like!). A huge game-changer in heavy B2B, where inventory-holding costs pile up over time

2. Customers have reported significant gain in sales productivity, sales cost optimisation, market coverage, and field insights

3. Brand’s dealers/distributors/influencers have shown significant adoption of digital platform given its transparent and instant incentive schemes

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Founder-market fit:

I spoke about building the next Oracles/ SAPs for India at the start, so who better than someone who worked at Oracle for more than a decade, to lead the team at Nexxio? Dhiraj is a computer science & IIM-A graduate with nearly 15+ years of career focusing on the design, development, and delivery of enterprise applications for large enterprises at Sapient & Oracle.

Interestingly, Dhiraj ran a family-owned PVC pipes manufacturing unit for a short stint where he realised the need for a centralized platform to manage 1000s of dealers/ distributors. This is one of the rare cases, where the founder has experience building software Plus operating a manufacturing unit in India. We could not ask for a stronger founder market fit than this!

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Final thoughts:

We are excited to work with Dhiraj and the entire team to build this fantastic venture. If you are a brand owner/ manufacturer/ CXO looking to digitize and improve productivity of your S&D operations, do reach out to me here

The company applied to us as a part of our MVP programme and we are delighted to see one go through. Watch this space for more!