Mumbai-based on-demand delivery startup Scootsy has raised $3.6 million (Rs 23 crore) in a bridge round of investment from Bangalore-based Agnus Capital, the family office of the promoters of pharmaceutical firm Strides Group, and Singapore-based investment firm Khattar Holdings, a company statement said.
The startup will use the new capital to strengthen its logistics, technology and delivery platform. It will also use the funds to launch Scootsy Express, a service that will deliver food to corporate offices across the city and Scootsy Pop-Up, a kitchen and distribution platform that will be available to brands across the country, the press note added.
Mumbai-based legal services firm RGM Legal acted as the advisor in the deal.
Scootsy Logistics Pvt. Ltd, which is a part of Mumbai-based incubator firm Ant Farm, delivers a wide variety of products, such as food, fashion apparel and accessories, home décor, skin care, gifts, toys, books, and more. Currently operational in Mumbai, the startup claims to have a user base of 200,000 users.
Founded in November 2012 by former chief of Indiatimes, Rishi Khiani, Ant Farm Business Incubator Pvt Ltd is a hybrid startup platform that helps entrepreneurs ideate businesses or scales up existing ideas and sees through its execution.
In February 2015, Ant Farm had acquired city-based online food ordering venture Meals on Wheels, which it brought under Scootsy.com. The on-demand delivery startup is run by Sandeep Das, who previously served as the chief operating officer and head of business at local search site Burrp and the defunct e-commerce firm AskMe.
Horizontal players such as Amazon also have a presence in the hyperlocal delivery space with Amazon Now. Another startup in this space is Bangalore-based ZN Retail Pvt Ltd, which runs online grocery property ZopNow, which in 2015 raised $10 million (Rs 62 crore) from San Francisco-based Dragoneer Investment Group with participation from existing investors Accel Partners, Qualcomm Ventures and Times Internet.
The hyperlocal delivery segment has seen a number of casualties as investors have turned cautious due to a lack of a sustainable business model in the space. In March this year, Chennai-based hyperlocal delivery startup Genie Solutions Pvt. Ltd shut its operations after it failed to raise funds.
Over the past year-and-a-half several other startups in the segment, including well-funded ventures like PepperTap and LocalBanya have also shut shop.
The article has been updated to include the legal firm that advised on the deal