Business networking platform Anar shuts down its operations, CEO says ‘It is what it is’

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Anar, a B2B networking platform, has announced the closure of its operations. The startup’s co-founder and CEO, Nishank Jain, made the announcement on X, formerly known as Twitter.

It’s painful but it is what it is.

After ~4.5 yrs of crazy hard work, we are shutting down Anar and returning capital to investors.

Sharing a bit about what happened and what I learnt in the journey

— nishank jain (@_nishankj) November 24, 2023

Despite raising nearly Rs 50 crore in capital, Jain cited low retention, insufficient value for sellers, and the inability to effectively solve problems for sellers as primary reasons for the shutdown.

Financial struggles 

Anar’s financial performance in FY23 was underwhelming, with negligible revenue and significant losses of Rs 17.32 crore.

The startup struggled to maintain long-term engagement and retention even after raising $6.2 million in a seed funding round in September 2021, co-led by Elevation Capital and Accel India. Jain has now decided to return the remaining capital to the investors.

What were Anar’s offerings?

Founded in 2020 by Jain and Sanjay Bhat, Anar aimed to assist small and medium enterprises (SMEs) build networks across various channels. The platform enabled businesses to upload catalogues, post requirements, and interact with other SMEs.

However, Jain noted that the platform primarily attracted the smallest retailers or new businesses, failing to engage larger or more established entities.

Learnings and reflections from Anar’s journey

Reflecting on the experience, Jain shared that a networking platform for SMEs might not be viable as business networks are typically small and tight-knit. He observed that offline B2B markets are highly efficient and difficult to replicate on a tech-led platform.

Jain emphasized that for such platforms to be successful, they need to offer significantly better solutions than existing systems.

“B2B leads in unorganised fragmented categories like clothing are not that big a market as there are well-known markets across the country that retailers can go to and source from and most of the big retailers are generally reluctant to source online + because they need credit. Further, leads generally make little sense in low AOV categories. Sourcing is not a top-of-the-mind problem for retailers. Don’t solve this unless you can do a 10X better job than existing systems,” added Jain.

What’s next?

While announcing the closure of Anar, Jain expressed his desire to tackle super-large problems that could redefine societal operations. He hinted at exploring a new venture in the AI space, aiming to make a substantial impact.