Trouble at UpScalio: The first domino in India’s roll-up-pocalypse?

Pranav Balakrishnan

41 reads

Pranav Balakrishnan

41 reads

Lenders Vivriti Capital and Northern Arc have taken Gurugram-based UpScalio to the NCLT, seeking to initiate corporate insolvency proceedings against the e-commerce aggregator. With roll-up e-commerce poster child Thrasio imploding in the US, are its Indian clones also about to meet a similar fate?

December 11, 2023

10 MINS READ

Key Takeaways

Just days after reports emerged about Thrasio’s looming bankruptcy, Indian e-commerce aggregator Upscalio appears to be in trouble
Vivriti Capital and Northern Arc, UpScalio’s lenders, have approached the NCLT seeking to initiate corporate insolvency proceedings against the Gurugram-based company
Whilst the wider roll-up e-commerce space has struggled over the past year, UpScalio’s plight is worsened since it has a considerably worse debt-to-equity ratio than its peers
The company claims to be closing in on an equity funding round, which could be its last lifeline

Less than a month on from reports that US-based roll-up e-commerce unicorn Thrasio is preparing to file for bankruptcy, the cracks in India’s own e-commerce aggregator space are beginning to show.

According to court filings that The CapTable has accessed and three sources aware of the matter, Gurugram-headquartered UpScalio has been taken to the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) by two of its venture debt investors, Vivriti Capital and Northern Arc.

Both lenders have invoked Section 7 of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016, seeking to initiate corporate insolvency proceedings against UpScalio. UpScalio co-founder and CEO Gautam Kshatriya confirmed the developments to The CapTable. “Northern Arc and Vivriti applied to take UpScalio into the Corporate Insolvency and Resolution Process (CIRP) because UpScalio was facing challenges in repaying our debt,” he said in a written response. Vivriti Capital declined to comment and questions sent to Northern Arc went unanswered.

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