Anar’s Operations Draw to a Close
Anar, the B2B networking platform, has made the decision to cease its operations. This news was communicated by the company’s CEO and founder, Nishank Jain, through X, previously known as Twitter. Jain has assured that the start-up is prepared to return funds to investors if the money still exists. The company managed to raise a significant sum of $6.2 million during a seed round in September 2021. This round was co-headed by Elevation Capital and Accel India, with contributions from First Cheque, Utsav Somani, and founders from companies such as ShareChat, Meesho, and BharatPe. Jain explained, “Despite the notable enthusiasm from users, especially vendors, we did not do enough to support them. None of our attempted methods for networking, leads, and transactions were significantly successful. We have concluded that this is due to retailers not prioritising sourcing.”
Anar’s primary function, created by Jain and Sanjay Bhat, was to help small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) develop their omnichannel networks. The platform allowed retailers, resellers, wholesalers, distributors, and manufacturers to establish their own accounts, upload catalogues, post requirements, and interact with each other. Jain pointed out that Anar noticed that buyers were not deriving sufficient value, and consequently, retention was low. Anar’s fiscal performance in FY23, the third fiscal year after its official launch in February 2020, reflects this issue. TheKredible, a novel data intelligence platform, has reported that Anar suffered a loss of Rs 17.32 crore in FY23, with negligible revenue.
Despite securing a large fundraising round in the capital-intensive year of 2021, the business has shut down merely two years after its establishment. Despite its initial success in fostering productive discussions between buyers and sellers, the start-up reached an impasse in terms of long-term engagement and retention. This lack of sustainability ultimately led to the company’s downfall. This closure is not an isolated event, as several companies, such as the cosmetics brand Belora, have also announced their decision to cease operations citing financial constraints among other reasons.
