Food Delivery Platform Runnr Raises $7 Mn From Nexus Venture Partners, Others

B2B online service provider platform for hyperlocal logistics services Runnr, has raised $7 Mn (INR 47 Cr) from investors, according to sources close to the development.

Nexus Venture Partners and Blume Ventures have co-led this round of funding. Their former investor, Sequoia Capital did not participate in the round.

Bengaluru-based Runnr was founded in 2015 by Mohit Kumar and Arpit Dave. It is a B2B hyperlocal on-demand delivery service that helps book, track and manage deliveries at scale.

Previously, the founders had raised $15 Mn (INR 101 Cr), backed by investors such as Sequoia Capital, Yuri Milner, Nexus Venture Partners, Apoletto Asia, and Emerging Markets Internet Fund.

In May 2016, reports surfaced that online food ordering platform TinyOwl and RoadRunnr were soon to be merged in an all-stock deal. The merger was completed in June where Runnr acquired Tinyowl and launched a customer centric app. Post-acquisition, the combined entity aimed to build out a consumer-facing product called Runnr.

TinyOwl’s investors, including Nexus, Sequoia, and Matrix, and the Mumbai-based startup’s founders collectively hold around 17% in Runnr.

TinyOwl was founded in 2014 by Harshvardhan Mandad, Gaurav Choudhary, Saurabh Goyal, Shikhar Paliwal, and Tanuj Khandelwal. In October 2015, the company had raised $7.6 Mn. Earlier in February 2015, it raised $15 Mn in Series B round. Recently, TinyOwl had shut down its operations in all the cities except Mumbai.

Both companies with common investors – Sequoia and Nexus — aimed to come out as an integrated hyperlocal delivery service, to win more customers and expand their business.

Many FoodTech startups have faced the heat of trying to be sustainable in the market. Four startups in Gurgaon in the hyperlocal food delivery space have reportedly shut down their businesses in the last few months. In May 2016, Yumist, a startup operating in the daily meals segment, stopped its services in Bangalore. Recently, restaurants associated with Swiggy and Shadowfax have also pulled back from having their orders delivered by the startups.

This development was first reported by TOI.