Accel leads $3m Series A round for India's Ninjacart

Qualcomm Ventures also participated in the round, along with Singapore-based GPs M&S Partners and Zop Smart, according to a statement. Ninjacart will use the funds to expand its team and improve its technology. Accel will also gain a seat on the company's board.

Launched last May as a hyperlocal grocery delivery service along the lines of Grofers and BigBasket, Ninjacart pivoted in December to a B2B model. The company connects farmers and manufacturers to supermarkets, neighborhood shops and produce stalls, providing a better deal for both sides by cutting out the numerous middlemen involved in India's retail supply chain.

Ninjacart claims to deliver more than 15 tons of vegetables and fruits each day to over 120 retailers, with monthly revenue of INR12 million ($178,000).

"B2B fresh and staples is a multi-billion dollar category. It's highly unorganized and inefficient," said Subrata Mitra, partner at Accel. "The founding team at Ninjacart has the right balance of technology and operations expertise to drive efficiencies in this unstructured marketplace."

So far most VC attention in India's grocery space has been paid to hyperlocal delivery services. Grofers is one of the most successful; its Series C round, led by Softbank in November, brought in $120 million. Another contender in the sector is BigBasket, which raised a $50 million round led by Bessemer Ventures in August, followed by a $25 million commitment from IFC in October.

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• Topics
• South Asia
• Support services
• Technology
• Early-stage
• Expansion
• Venture
• India
• TMT
• Accel Partners
• Qualcomm Ventures