Grocery Startup, SatvaCart, Raises Over $1.8 Mn

Gurgaon-based online grocery startup, SatvaCart, has raised somewhere between $1.8 Mn (INR10-12 Cr.) in its second round of angel funding, reported ET.

This round of funding was led by three senior executives in the insurance, telecom and investment banking space.

SatvaCart plans to use the amount raised to expand to other cities and strengthen its technology.

Started in January 2015 by Rahul Hari, Satvacart, claims to offer around 4000 products, across categories such as grocery, fruits and vegetables, personal care, household essentials and baby care.

The startup works similar to Peppertap, another online grocery delivery platform. It sources supplies from neighbourhood stores for delivery to customers, but also maintains its own inventory.

Prior to this, the startup had raised seed funding from Palaash Ventures and other angel investors, in order to expand across six new cities apart from Gurgaon.

The company had roped in three advisors on its board including Arvind Gupta, head of the Digital India Foundation; Vijay Shukla, managing partner of Setu Ventures; and Pushpinder Singh, founder of food startup TravelKhana.

The Indian retail market is expected to hit $725 Bn by 2017 as it is, currently, the sixth largest grocery market in the world.

SatvaCart competes with grocery delivery providers like ZopNow, Peppertap, Bigbasket, Grofers, Localbanya and more. Bigbasket, which is the biggest player in this space had raised $50 Mn in August this year from Bessemer Venture Partners. Also, PepperTap secured $36 Mn of Series B funding led by Snapdeal, Sequoia India and SAIF Partners.

SatvaCart’s this round of funding has come at a time when existing players in hyperlocal food and grocery delivery, and food-tech space are feeling the heat of cash crunch and increasing competition like that of Dazo . Besides, startup unicorns like Paytm, Flipkart, Ola and Amazon have ventured into grocery delivery space, killing away the business of smaller players.

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