Exclusive: Noida-based micro-delivery startup MrNeeds shuts down

Micro delivery platform MrNeeds has shut down its operations. It used to service a few pockets in Noida, Ghaziabad, and parts of Delhi through an app-based subscription service. The Noida-based startup started with milk delivery service and later added bread, eggs, groceries and other daily essentials.

Unlike Bigbasket and Grofers, MrNeeds was evangelising micro-delivery model which focuses on optimizing the supply chain and minimising delivery costs. It also raised a $500K pre-Series A round from a group of angel investors including Umesh Arora.

“Our store is closed,” reads a message flashing on the company’s website. Entrackr has also sent an email query to MrNeeds team. We will update the post with the company input as it comes in.

The two years old startup had claimed to serve about 10,000 households in Noida and adjacent parts of Delhi in July last year.

Over the past couple of years, several micro-delivery platforms have emerged in Gurugram, Bengaluru, Mumbai, and Pune. Though the micro-delivery platforms are built around milk subscription, they see grocery and FMCG products as a natural extension. Milkbasket, Dailyninja, and Suprdaily are major players in the segment.

Also read: Can micro-delivery platforms give an answer to loss-making e-grocery biz?

While Milkbasket had raised multiple rounds since its inception from the likes of Lenovo Capital, Unilever Venture, Blume Ventures and Kalaari Capital, Mumbai-based Suprdaily is backed by a consortium of Silicon Valley-based investors.

Bengaluru-based Dailyninja claims to service 25,000 deliveries on a daily basis. It raised $1 million pre-Series A round from Sequoia Capital last year. Recently, Kalaari had put in about $3 million investment in Milkbasket.

In India, the serviceable market opportunity for daily essentials consumed by people living in high-rises is pegged at $10 billion. Excited by the adoption of micro-delivery startups, Alibaba-backed BigBasket is also rolling out subscription-based service soon.

Despite the unrelenting optimism of micro-delivery startups, some experts are of a view that they aren’t scalable. According to them, apart from top three metros (Bengaluru, Mumbai, and NCR), the use case of micro-delivery platforms aren’t justified.