India home delivery service Grofers raises $10m

The Gurgaon-based company - which raised a seed round of funding in December - covers Dehli, Mumbai, and Bangalore and promises deliver anything from a local shop within 90 minutes.

Essentially the service is targeting Indian mom-and-pop stores - known locally as "kirana" - that might not otherwise have an internet presence or any kind of delivery service.

The company operates on a low-cost logistics model and does not make use of any warehouses. Users who download an accompanying app can order from the inventories of local shops that sign up to the service; once the order is made, a courier on a scooter will go and pick up the goods.

The service started in 2013 with the initial idea that it would provide an on-demand pick up and drop service from neighbourhood shops. It started out with pharmacy shops, grocery shops and restaurants, but dropped the latter as that particular segment already has several competitors.

Currently the service processes 30,000 deliveries every month, with over 6,000 orders coming over the mobile applications.

• Tweet  
• Facebook  
• LinkedIn  
• Google plus  
• Save this article  
• Send to  

• Topics
• South Asia
• Early-stage
• Technology
• India
• TMT
• Tiger Global Management
• Sequoia Capital
• Venture
• Technology