Daily grocery service Milkbasket has announced that is has raised $7 million in Series A funding led by Kalaari Capital with participation from Singapore based BeeNext and its existing investors, Unilever Ventures and Blume Ventures.
The startup was founded in 2015 with just milk and breakfast products; they tried to develop on the age-old practice of early morning delivery at the doorstep of milk and newspaper in the Indian context. Today, however, their basket has much more on offer including a range of groceries and daily home needs.
“We are very excited to have Kalaari and BeeNext join us in the journey to crack the online grocery space in a sustainable manner. This funding will help us to continue investing in the 3Ts that we hold close to our hearts - talent, technology and territory, and in achieving our vision to create the most convenient grocery fulfilment model for today’s busy households,” Anant Goel, CEO at Milkbasket said.
The significant part of Milkbasket’s working model is that the customers could place their orders by 12 midnight and the delivery will be made before 7am. It’s a purely contactless model and Milkbasket claims they get it right 99% of the time in terms of time and accuracy of delivery.
Milkbasket today fulfills the entire grocery needs of a household with a reach of over 40,000 households in 180+ communities in Gurgaon.
The freshly raised funds will be used by them in making further improvements in their existing infrastructure and process, including the last-mile delivery logistics, smoothening out the supply-chain issues and improving the overall customer experience with Milkbasket. There may be plans to expand their footprint beyond Gurugram as well.
Commenting on the investment, Vani Kola, MD at Kalaari Capital said, “Strong founding team, focus towards data-based decision making, operational rigor, and incessant focus on customer delight, backed by a large market opportunity in the grocery space culminated into us leading a $7M Series A round into Milkbasket.”
Milkbasket currently operates with a full stack in-house supply chain model, achieved positive unit economics within first six months of inception and have introduced industry’s first flexi ordering till midnight, delivery by 7:00 am, no minimum order and free delivery model.
"Our investment in Milkbasket provides us with meaningful participation in one of the fastest growing e-grocery markets globally. We are excited to partner with one of India's best grocery delivery platforms and believe that this investment will accelerate their ability to build scale in India.Three unique attributes of Milkbasket that impressed us were; a great founder with a solid team and great execution; a user friendly service suitable for Indian local habits; and highly frequent consumer touch points. Milkbasket instigates a sense of community among users, and there is no doubt that they will become the daily habit of India in a few years,” Teruhide Sato, founder of BeeNext, said.