Software-as-a-service and big data analytics firm Peel-Works has raised an undisclosed amount in its Series B funding round led by Unilever Ventures, a company statement said.
Existing investors Inventus Capital Partners and IDG Ventures India also participated in the round.
Peel-Works will use the fresh funds to further strengthen its product and technology offering, build a leadership team and expand to more geographies, the statement added.
Operated by Peel-Works Outsourcing Pvt. Ltd, the company’s SaaS platform helps grocery stores buy inventory, sell their products, and deploy capital. The platform helps grocers reduce their operational costs by driving shoppers’ loyalty and optimising inventory.
Peel-Works was set up in 2010 by Sachin Chhabra and Sandeep Lakhina. Prior to establishing Pee-Works, Chhabra, an alumnus of St Stephens College and, was with Hindustan Unilever for 14 years, having begun his career in 1996.
Lakhina, an alumnus of IMT Ghaziabad, the Cox School of Business and The Wharton School, was formerly the chief operating officer of Starcom MediaVest Group in South Asia before setting up Peel-Works. However, he quit the firm in 2013, his LinkedIn profile shows.
“There is a great opportunity to empower the large traditional trade in fast-growing markets leveraging technologies at the point-of-sale. Insights generated can be used by consumer packaged goods, e-commerce, fin-tech or cash and carry players to develop innovative solutions, improve services and sales force performances. Peel-works is taking a lead in this and we are excited to partner with them in this journey,†Olivier Garel, head of Unilever Ventures, said.
The company had raised $2 million in its Series A round from Inventus Capital Partners and IDG Ventures India in July 2014. In 2011, it raised funding from the Indian Angel Network (IAN) led by Sadeesh Raghavan and Srikant Sastri.
Unilever Ventures is the venture capital and private equity arm of consumer goods giant Unilever. The firm invests in early-stage companies and helps them accelerate growth by providing access to Unilever's global ecosystem, assets and expertise. Its key focus areas include content creation, artificial intelligence, data analytics, e-commerce, Internet of Things, mobile marketing and video, in both developed and emerging markets. Unilever Ventures’ existing investments include Clavis Insight, Percolate, Blis, Gousto, Instacart, Blow, Nutrafol, Sun Basket, Iluminage Beauty, Froosh, and Voltea.