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Gurugram-based online grocery startup, Milkbasket, has received $3 Mn funding in a Pre-Series A round led by Unilever Ventures. Earlier in August 2017, Milkbasket raised an undisclosed amount in another Pre-Series A funding round from Blume Ventures. The investment went into expanding the company’s operations in Gurugram. A portion of the funding was to be used to acquire new talents in technology, supply chain, and operations. With this round, MilkBasket marks a close to its Pre-Series A funding round. The startup plans to use the latest funding and Unilever’s expertise to strengthen technology as well as in expanding their assortment and customer base and monetising other streams of revenues. As stated by Anant Goel, CEO of Milkbasket, “At present, Milkbasket is growing exponentially and has become a popular brand in the city of Gurugram. Our vision is to become a strong player in online top-up groceries platform in India within the next five years, and we strongly believe that this is an important milestone in our journey.” Founded in 2015, Milkbasket is a micro-delivery service with an innovative top-up model. The company started with catering for the unique Indian habit of getting fresh milk delivered at home every morning, and today claims to be one of the leading grocery delivery platforms in Gurugram. MilkBasket can fulfill orders received from its customers on a wide selection of grocery products before midnight and get these delivered to their doorstep before 7 AM every day. To enable frequent and frictionless buying, Milkbasket has also introduced flexi-ordering and contactless delivery options on its platform. In December 2016, the online grocery platform secured investment from Hofan Capital and Draphant. A few Milkbasket customers also participated in the round. Also in April 2016, the micro delivery startup raised $500K in a funding round led by EVC and a group of Chinese investors. Milkbasket is Unilever Ventures’ second startup investment in India so far. Earlier in December 2017, Unilever backed SaaS startup Peel-Works, where it led the Series B funding round. The other portfolio companies of Unilever Ventures include notably Clavis Insight, Percolate, Blis, Gousto, Instacart, Blow, Nutrafol, Sun Basket, Iluminage Beauty, Froosh, and Voltea. Recently, in the month of November, the firm invested $10 Mn (INR 65 Cr) into IDG Venture India Fund, which primarily invests in consumer-technology, innovation, and digital startups. Earlier in June 2017, another micro-delivery startup MrNeeds also raised around $500K in Pre-Series A funding round. Other prominent startups in this space are Supr Daily, Daily Ninja Essentials, and Town Essentials. With the recent funding from Unilever Ventures, how micro-delivery startup Milkbasket will roll out its expansion plans will be worth watching.

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