Gurgaon-based Nuvo Logistics Private Limited, which runs a hyperlocal grocery e-tailing startup under PepperTap, has secured an undisclosed amount in seed funding from venture capital firm Sequoia Capital, a top company executive told VCCircle.
The funds will be utilised for expanding the company’s user base through marketing to spread its reach across the Delhi-NCR region. It will also be used to increase the team size to 100+ employees by 2015-end.
It is currently delivering only within Gurgaon.
“The investment from Sequoia Capital will enable us to build the brand and position it in people’s minds,†said Navneet Singh, co-founder, PepperTap.
Founded in November last year by Singh and Milind Sharma, the startup is a mobile-first hyperlocal grocery delivery service that provides on demand grocery products to consumers. It claims that it delivers the products within two hours of their placing the order. Although also available as a web product, it is primarily pushing its apps which are available on the Android and iOS platforms.
A location-based platform, PepperTap offers a wide range of products that include grocery & staples, fruits & vegetables, household & beauty care, among others.
An IIM-Ahmedabad alumnus, Singh has over a decade of experience across financial services, transportation and logistics industries. Sharma has four years of experience in client acquisition and general management in the e-commerce industry. Prior to PepperTap, the duo had co-founded NuvoEx, an e-commerce focused reverse logistics company.
According to the co-founders, the startup is in advanced talks to close its Series A round of funding from a few leading VC firms in the country.
Its closest competitor would be Naspers-owned location-based marketplace for fresh food & grocery Tradus.com.
However, it would also compete with others like Aaramshop and MyGrahak besides BigBasket.com, the largest grocery e-tailer and the most heavily funded peer. BigBasket has not yet launched in Delhi NCR.
Earlier this month, Godrej Group’s hybrid offline-online grocery retailer Nature’s Basket, had acquired online grocery and daily essentials shopping store Ekstop.com. While the financials of the deal remain undisclosed, a Livemint report pegged the deal value at Rs 30-40 crore, which included Nature’s Basket taking on debt of Rs 10-15 crore on the books of Ekstop.com.
In September 2014, BigBasket.com, owned and operated by Bangalore-based SuperMarket Grocery Supplies Pvt Ltd, had secured Rs 200 crore ($32.8 million) in its Series B round of funding from Helion Venture Partners and Mumbai-based Zodius Capital. The round also saw participations from its existing investors, including Ascent Capital; Srihari Kumar, founding partner of Singapore-based hedge fund LionRock Capital and former partner at TPG-Axon; and serial entrepreneur K Ganesh.
