Jumbotail raises $18.2 Mn in Series C3 round

Jumbotail, B2B marketplace and retail platform for food and grocery, has raised Rs 151 crore ($18.2 million) in a Series C3 round led by Artal Asia Pte. Ltd. Heron Rock, Sabre Investment, Arkam Ventures, Jarvis Reserve Fund, Reaction Global, VII Ventures and others.

Artal had led a $85 million Series C round in Jumbotail in December 2021. In March last year, the firm raised $9.5 million in debt and has scooped up around $157 million across equity and debt to date.

Jumbotail plans to invest funds in scaling its suite of GTM (Go-To-Market) products and services for new and emerging brands to reach mass market consumers via Jumbotail’s nationwide kirana store network, the company said in a press release.

Jumbotail claims to build AI-driven technologies to drive higher customer wallet share by leveraging its deep sourcing capabilities across FMCG and staples and its kirana supply chain.

The company also plans to hire teams in deep sourcing, technology, category management, product management, and marketing.

“..We will strengthen our leadership position by going deeper into our existing markets and by helping brands reach kiranas with the lowest total cost of activation and the fastest route to market in the sector..,” said Ashish Jhina, Co-founder and COO of Jumbotail.

Jhina also said that the company expects to be fully profitable on an operational basis across its entire network before the end of 2024.

Founded by S.Karthik Venkateswaran, and Jhina, Jumbotail serves small and medium kirana stores across India via full stack B2B marketplace platform, inhouse warehousing and last-mile delivery supply chain network that provides next-day storefront deliveries to kirana stores. It also provides a fintech platform for payment, credit solutions and financial services to kirana store owners.

According to Jumbotail, it generated sales by unassisted digital orders placed organically by kirana stores across the country via its app.

Jumbotail’s revenue from operations grew 2.17X to Rs 819 crore in FY23 from Rs 377 crore in FY22, according to startup data intelligence platform TheKredible. Akin to revenue, its losses also jumped over 2X to Rs 264 crore in FY23 as compared to Rs 125 crore in the previous fiscal year.