Servify raises $65 million funding; to launch IPO in 18-24 months

Servify, which powers the after-sales experience for a range of device manufacturers, on August 24 said it raised $65 million in Series D financing led by Singularity Growth Opportunity Fund, bucking the funding slowdown in late-stage startups due to tough market conditions.Strategic investors such as US insurance holdings firm AmTrust, family offices, including that of Fevicol-maker Pidilite, along with existing investors such as Iron Pillar, Beenext, Blume Ventures, and DMI Sparkle Fund also participated in the round.The company plans to use the funds to expand its products, scale its technology platform and grow its business in international markets apart from scouting for acquisition opportunities.While Servify didnt disclose its valuation in this round, founder Sreevathsa Prabhakar told Moneycontrol that were closing in on a $1 billion valuation. It also powers the smart exchange and upgrade programmes for such brands.The startup claims to have partnerships with over 75 brands that include retailers, distributors, insurers, financial institutions, product liquidators, service providers, and carriers, besides consumer electronics manufacturers.Nokia, Etisalat, Croma, Walmart, Reliance Retail, Amazon, and Flipkart are some the brands it works with.Servify recently extended its platform to enable affordable purchases by aggregating features such as no-cost EMI, card-linked offers, Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL) and instant discounts among others.Prabhakar told Moneycontrol that they were running a pilot on this aggregation model in over 200 Apple-authorised reseller stores in cities such as Delhi, Mumbai and Nagpur. Once we learn all the market nuances, then we will probably scale across all the outlets where we are present" he said.Servify claims to have a distribution presence in more than 50,000 outlets.Prabhakar, however, said the firm was not taking any risks on its books. "The idea is to provide a single platform where the entire digital customer KYC to lending decisions to underwriting will happen digitally," he said.The move would also enable the company to bring in new lenders who do not have a retail distribution presence to simply plug onto their platform and participate in the lending play, he said.The aggregation model would help Servify expand its capabilities to an entire product lifecyclefrom helping customers buy a product to help them use it for a longer time and then enable an upgrade or exchange the product, Prabhakar said. "We are building a massive global business from India that is already at an annual revenue run rate of over $130 million and is on the verge of turning profitable," Prabhakar said.Global expansion is a big focus area for Servify.