ShopKirana, India’s B2B Platform, Secures $10m in Series B

India’s business-to-business ecommerce platform ShopKirana is expanding its business into all major Tier-II cities of India after raising $10 million from a number of investors, including Info Edge.

In a statement, ShopKirana said the funding round, which brings the startup’s total funding to date to $12.1 million, was also participated by Better Capital, NPTK Emerging Asia Fund, Akatski AET Fund, and Incubate Fund.

ShopKirana was founded on February 2015 by Deepak Dhanotiya, Tanutejas Saraswat, and Sumit Ghorawat. It connects brands and retailers through its technology and supply chain innovation. The platform also provides 24-hour delivery and features hundreds of brands.

The company said its objective is to team up with thousands of retailers to make ShopKirana the biggest and quickest go-to-market channel for products and services.

ShopKirana operates in a market considered as among the global top 10. According to data cited by the company, India’s retail sector is expected to hit $950 million this year from $520 million in 2013.

The team behind the startup said it will continue to innovate and expand to ensure that small Indian retailers improve their profits, product range, and widen their access to customers.

Saraswat, CEO and co-founder of ShopKirana, expects the company to expand into 10 cities in the next three months and, within the next 10 months, will be in more cities than cash-and-carry businesses.

ShopKirana, according to co-founder Ghorawat, has the ability to bring a local brand into a nationwide scale and international brand into local kirana stores.

The startup first raised Rs3 crore (US$420,000) in seed funding in 2016 led by Incubate Fund and backed by angel investors. In 2018, the startup raised another Rs14 crore (US$1.96 million) in its Series A funding led by Info Edge.

Info Edge head of corporate development and venture capital, Kitty Agarwal, sees ShopKirana as an empowering platform for small retailers. The platform, he added, allows smaller businesses to compete with more organized and bigger retail and ecommerce firms.

Info Edge owns Naukri, 99acres, and early investors in Zomato, Policybazaar, Ustraa, Gramophone, and other tech startups.