Baxi pivots to hyperlocal delivery model with rebranded app B-Fresh

Eyeing a huge opportunity in hyperlocal delivery space, bike ride-hailing app Baxi has officially pivoted its business and will now deliver groceries, pharmaceuticals, health supplements, personal care products, food, and dairy products to customers.

Baxi has also rebranded itself as B-Fresh and will deliver products across the aforementioned categories under the new app.

The four-year-old startup has been in talks with several FMCG players to enter the hyper-local delivery business. As of now, it has partnered with home-grown consumer goods brand Patanjali, Mother Dairy and Safal, an organised retail network of fruits and vegetables in NCR owned by the dairy major.

On the lines of US-based Instacart, B-fresh will tie up with retail chains that have a significant physical presence but do not run on app.

Under its new model, B-Fresh has onboarded 800 delivery executives on to its platforms will deliver products from over 2,000 stores via Mother Dairy. Additionally, the Ashutosh Johri-led startup is negotiating with Patanjali to add more chains to partner with it.

Started in 2014 by Johri and Manu Rana, Baxi had to shut down its bike taxi service due to unviable unit economics, lack of consumer demand and an uncertain regulatory environment.

The Gurugram-based startup had managed to raise $1.4 million in a seed funding round in November 2015 from a group of high-net-worth individuals. In July, it also scooped up fresh funds from a clutch of investors.

Looking ahead, B-Fresh will have to face tough competition from heavyweights like Bigbasket, Grofers among others.

The development was reported by ET.