VCs rush in for stake in online grocery business

LocalBanya.com rasied Series A fund from Karmvir Avant

Just after a week when Unilazer Ventures acquired stake in e-grocery retailer – EkStop.com, another online retailer , LocalBanya.com raised an undisclosed funding from private investor.

India is the 6th largest grocery market in the world. The food and grocery segment constitutes more than 60% of the $470 billion retail market in India.  

Early this week, LocalBanya.com, Mumbai’s online supermarket has announced its Series A fundraising from Karmvir Avant Group. Launched in 2012, LocalBanya deliver the products such as fruits and vegetables, exotic vegetables, groceries, personal care, household supplies, detergents, kitchen ware, Over-The-Counter (OTC), breakfast and snacks at the doorstep.  

According to RashiChoudhary, Co-founder, LocalBanya, the brand will be expanded into additional metros very soon. LocalBanya will enter into Thane and Navi Mumbai by mid-January and its presence in at least 2 more cities by mid-2014. The website claims to be processing around 400 deliveries everyday with a team of over 100 employees.

Karmvir Avant is owned by Karmvir Rajpurohit, former head of the real estate investment banking division at Right Meridian Pacific Capital Limited.  

According to the company, 59% of the transactions on LocalBanya.com are done by women while Senior citizens are a sizeable 14% of the customer base due to the convenience of online retail

Last week, Ronnie Screwvala owned Unilazer Ventures Limited invested an undisclosed amount for a 25% stake in Mumbai's e- grocery retailer – EkStop Shop Private Limited.

EkStop.com launched its services across Mumbai city last year. The company aims at providing the same-day delivery convenience and service of a kirana store coupled with the wide product variety, promotions and discounts of a hypermarket, the statement said.  

There are about a dozens of online retailers active in India including AaramShop.com, AtMyDoorSteps.com, BigBasket.com, EkStop.com, LocalBanya.com, MyGrahak.com, Omart.in, RationHut.com, SeaToHome.com and ZopNow.com.

In 2012, Bangalore-based private equity firm Ascent Capital had invested $10 million in Series A funding in BigBasket.com, which was said to be the largest series A round in an e-tailing firm in India.

Similarly, Accel Partners and Qualcomm had reportedly invested in Bangalore based - ZopNow Retail Private Limited, an online hypermarket for groceries & related goods.