Value retail chain startup 1-India Family Mart has raised Rs 50 crore ($6.6 million) as a part of its Series B round from Dubai-based financial services firm Gulf Islamic Investments (GII).
The Gurugram-based firm, which also counts Carpediem Capital as its another financial backer, will leverage the capital to double stores count, both organically and through acquisitions.
“We are excited to raise a fresh funding round from GII which will significantly boost our expansion plans, strengthen our retail presence and drive growth trajectory of the group,” said Jay Prakash Shukla, CEO at 1-India Family Mart.
1-India Family Mart, operated by Nysaa Retail Pvt. Ltd, offers fashion apparels, lifestyle products and general merchandise through its retail outlets.
The group will also be launching its distributed e-commerce operations to become an omni-channel player.
The company has presence in tier 2, 3 & 4 cities with over 100 stores across Bihar, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh and the North-East.
“We love the group’s focus on value retail and their ability to reach and cater to the Indian semi-urban areas. The group is on path to expand its footprint in new towns and semi-urban areas which resonates with India’s growth story coming from tier-2 and tier 3 cites,” said Pankaj Gupta and Mohammed Alhassan, co-founders at Gulf Islamic Investments LLC.
Nysaa Retail, which was established in November 2012, had last year diluted a minority stake to raise funding from Suumaya Industries Ltd.
It had raised its first institutional round of funding from Carpediem.
In 2019, 1-India Family Mart had raised Rs 20 crore ($2.8 million) in debt funding in a transaction led by Mumbai-based APAC Financial Services Pvt. Ltd, launched by Deutsche Bank’s former Asia-Pacific chief Gunit Chadha.
GII’s India Play
The investment firm, in a recent interaction with VCCircle, said that it will be investing $500 million in India in next 3 years.
Earlier this month, the investor put Rs 50 crore into male grooming brand Bombay Shaving Company (BSC).
In 2020, Gulf Islamic Investment made its first investments by betting on a multispecialty hospital chain and in-vitro diagnostics firm. It did not disclose their names.
In July 2021, it led a Series B round of funding in Hero Electric Vehicles Pvt Ltd, which manufactures lithium-ion battery-powered two-wheelers.
The following month it co-led an investment in Soothe Healthcare Pvt. Ltd, the firm behind Paree brand of sanitary napkins.
Gulf Islamic Investment otherwise manages around $2 billion in assets across venture capital, private equity, and real estate, among others.