Gurugram start-up Milkbasket raises $7mn in funding
What's the story
Gurugram-based micro-delivery start-up, Milkbasket, has raised $7mn in a Series A funding round led by Bengaluru-based Kalaari Capital and Singapore-based BeeNext.
This is the second fundraiser by the start-up, this year.
Founded in 2015, Milkbasket delivers milk, groceries, and other daily necessities to customers' doorsteps.
As of now, Milkbasket services over 40,000 households across 180 communities in Gurugram.
Here's more.
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Kalaari Capital MD justifies the $7mn investment in Milkbasket
"A strong founding team, focus towards data-based decision-making, operational rigour, and incessant focus on customer delight, backed by a large market opportunity in the grocery space culminated into us leading a $7mn Series A round into Milkbasket," said Vani Kola, MD of Kalaari Capital.
Background
Milkbasket was 2017's 'Start-up of the Year'
Milkbasket was founded by Institut Européen d'Administration des Affaires (INSEAD) alumnus Anant Goel, along with Ashish Goel, Anurag Jain, and Yatish Talvadia.
The company follows a no-contact, micro-delivery model similar to newspaper and milk supply chain models, and delivers daily essentials by 7am in the morning.
At the coveted Small Business Awards 2018, Milkbasket was declared to be 2017's 'Start-up of the Year'.
Funding
In three years, Milkbasket has already raised over $10mn
Prior to the $7mn Milkbasket raised from Kalaari Capital and BeeNext, the company had raised $3mn in a pre-series A funding round in January led by Unilever Ventures.
Even prior to that, Milkbasket had raised around $1mn in seed funding and angel investments from a bunch of Chinese venture capitalists and domestic angel investors.
The latest round brings Milkbasket's total funding to over $10mn.
Fund utilization
How Milkbasket plans to utilize the freshly injected funds
According to CEO Anant Goel, the start-up plans to use the freshly injected funds for making its supply chain more efficient, providing last-mile logistics and unmatched customer experience, and expanding into other cities. Which cities, however, was not specified.
Milkbasket operates with a full stack in-house supply chain model, and reached positive unit economics within the first six months of operation.
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Milkbasket focused on '3Ts'
"This funding will help us to continue investing in the 3Ts - talent, technology and territory, and in achieving our vision to create the most convenient grocery fulfilment model for today's busy households," explained Milkbasket CEO Anant Goel.
Online grocery market
Milkbasket faces stiff competition in the months to come
However, Milkbasket won't have it easy with several competitors like MrNeeds, Supr Daily, Daily Ninja, and Doodhwala emerging in the micro-delivery space.
Meanwhile, giants like Flipkart and Amazon are also beefing up their online grocery business in India, where the online grocery market was valued at $1bn in 2017.
The market for online groceries is expected to grow at 55% CAGR through 2021.