Retail startup Daalchini, on Wednesday announced that it has raised $4 million in a Series A round led by Unicorn India Ventures, along with the participation of new and existing investors.
Artha Venture Fund, former chief executive officer of Dominos India Ajay Kaul, and VSS Investco, the investment vertical of Paytm’s chief Vijay Shekhar Sharma, participated in the funding mop-up.
Daalchini is planning to deploy a large part of the funds to expand its industry footprint and better technology capabilities. The startup is aiming to make its solutions asset-efficient and accessible to 10 million retail points in India and more than 450 food and beverage brands, it said in a release.
Founded in 2017 by ex-Paytm colleagues Prerna Kalra and Vidya Bhushan, Daalchini enables brands to retail affordable snacks and home-style meals to customers via its automated kiosks, mobility retails, and smart vending machines.
Daalchini claims to have witnessed a 300% growth in the last 12 months, with the Daalchini app clocking more than 2 lakh monthly active users.
In the financial year 2022 (FY22), the startup’s revenue stood at Rs 12 crore and it claims that it has achieved a product market fit. The startup noted that 90% of its vending machines are earnings before interest, taxes, and amortisation (Ebitda) positive within 45 days.
Daalchini is aiming to clock Rs 50 crores in revenues with a gross merchandise value (GMV) of Rs 130 crore in 12 months. On the other hand, it is working to increase its autonomous retail points to more than 5,000 from the current 850+ in the next 12-18 months.
“Daalchini aims to establish its footprints at every 200 meters of habitable area with its autonomous smart stores and vending machines. Today, our country has just a few thousand vending machines, while the US or Japan has more than one autonomous store for every 200 people. We are far from the true potential of this kind of retail,” said Prerna Kalra, co-founder and chief executive of Daalchini Technologies.
“We quickly expanded our network to 11 states and 23 cities with 850+ stores. We will continue leveraging our unique tech and supply chain for fresh and packaged food to reach 50+ cities,” Kalra added.
Daalchini has installed its vending machines in corporate and co-working spaces, educational institutes, hospitals, and railway stations, offering food and beverage products from over 160 brands.
The startup has partnered with companies such as Reliance, Aditya Birla Group’s Hindalco, Vodafone, GE, MX Player, Samsung, Paytm, Snapdeal, Byju’s, EY, Olx, Oyo, Loreal and Vivo, among others.
On the other hand, it has tied up with more than 160 brands such as Sleepy Owl, The Whole Truth Foods, Open Secret, Yoga Bar, Slurrp Farm, BRB, Cremica Opera, Cravova, Millet Bowl, Yogapulp as well as traditional players like Dabur, Nestle, and Mars to offer their products.
