Bharat-focused hyperlocal grocery platform ApnaMart is close to raising $20 million in a Series A round from Accel Partners and Sequoia Capital, according to three sources aware of the details of the deal.
“ApnaMart is in advanced talks to raise anywhere between $15-20 million led by Accel,” said one of the sources requesting anonymity. “Sequoia is an existing investor which is also likely to participate.”
ApnaMart ensures grocery delivery within 90 minutes in tier II and III cities. At present, it’s operational in four cities: Ranchi, Jamshedpur, Hazaribagh, and Raipur. It leverages local offline stores and own franchises to fulfill orders and provides distribution to grocery and fast moving consumer goods brands with a focus on smaller towns.
“The deal is likely to materialise if nothing changes at the last moment as the term sheet has been signed. ApnaMart will be valued at around $50-$55 million (post money),” said another source who also requested anonymity as the person is not authorized to speak to the media.
Queries sent to ApnaMart, Sequoia and Accel didn’t elicit any immediate response. We will update the story in case they respond.
Founded by Chetan Garg and Abhishek Singh, ApnaMart has already raised around Rs 22.6 crore across three tranches. Sequoia Capital, Disruptors Capital, Amplify Consultancy, AL Trust, Titan Capital, and others invested the aforementioned sum, according to the company’s regulatory filing with the Registrar of Companies (RoC).
Over the past 18 months, ten-minute grocery companies such as Zepto, BlinkIt and Dunzo have been gaining popularity in the top 10 cities and attracting hundreds of millions of dollars in funding. ApnaMart is looking in the other direction by solely targeting tier II and III cities. While the company doesn’t have direct competitors in the cities it operates, its indirect competition is BigBasket and the likes of DealShare and CityMall will be its rival when it expands to states such as NCR, Rajasthan, and UP.
