Anar, a B2B networking platform, has made the decision to cease its operations. Nishank Jain, the company’s founder and CEO, shared this announcement on X (formerly Twitter). The startup, which received $6.2 million in a seed round led by Elevation Capital and Accel India in September 2021, intends to return the remaining capital to its investors.
Jain highlighted, “While there was tremendous user love, especially on the seller side, we failed to solve enough for sellers.” Anar focused on assisting small and medium-sized businesses in building networks across various channels. Despite efforts in networking, generating leads, and facilitating transactions, Jain realized that sourcing wasn’t a primary concern for retailers. The platform allowed retailers, resellers, wholesalers, distributors, and manufacturers to create profiles, upload catalogs, post requirements, and interact with each other.
The co-founder noted the challenge in retaining users and providing adequate value to buyers. Anar’s financial performance in FY23 reflected this struggle, with negligible revenue and significant losses amounting to Rs 17.32 crore, as reported by TheKredible, a startup data intelligence platform.
The closure of Anar adds to the growing list of startups shutting down due to funding constraints and other reasons. Companies like cosmetics brand Belora and teenager-focused neo-banking platform Akudo have also recently announced closures. Additionally, the shutdowns include Vah Vah, OSlash, FrontRow, and three gaming apps: Fantok, One World Nation (OWN), and Quizy.
