MUMBAI: The e-commerce business is attracting funding galore in India. In a bid to boost its expansion plans, nine month old on-demand hyperlocal grocery delivery service PepperTap is eyeing to raise funds to the tune of $56 million. While the company has closed a Series B funding round of $36 million from multiple investors, it is also in advanced talks with financial investors to close another round of an additional $20 million, which is expected to close in the coming few weeks.
The latest funding round of $36 million was led by Snapdeal along with existing investors Sequoia India and SAIF Partners. The funding also saw participation from new investors like Ru-net, JAFCO, and BeeNext.
With the infusion of fresh funds, PepperTap plans to expand its presence to 75 cities across India by the end of the current fiscal year. The company also plans to invest heavily in strengthening its technology and supply chain capabilities. PepperTap expects to have more than 5,000 staff by year end to support its operations.
PepperTap co-founder and CEO Navneet Singh said, “PepperTap has been on a hyper-growth track since its inception nine months ago. From less than $1 million GMV run rate at the start of Fiscal Year 2015-16, we are solidly on track to end the year with a GMV run-rate of over $250 million. Investment by an established player like Snapdeal is a stamp on our asset-light, low burn business model and our execution track record. We look forward to leveraging Snapdeal’s experience to help our partner stores develop their capabilities and multiply their sales.”
Snapdeal co-founder and CEO Kunal Bahl added, “We are excited to be entering into a strategic partnership with PepperTap. Navneet and his team have done a phenomenal job in building PepperTap into India’s leading grocery ordering platform. We look forward to working closely with PepperTap to make them very successful, leveraging the capabilities we have built in Snapdeal’s ecosystem.”
Sequoia India MD Shailendra Singh said, “PepperTap is making exciting progress in building the most efficient hyper-local infrastructure to deliver a great user experience for grocery shopping. It’s thrilling to see the incredible progress Navneet and team have made since Sequoia India’s seed investment and we're delighted to support them in their journey.”
SAIF Partners' Ravi Adusumalli added, "Since our investments a short while ago, the team at PepperTap has done an extraordinary job of growing and establishing themselves as the clear leader in the hyperlocal grocery space. We believe that this is a massive market and our focus only on groceries will enable us to have the best customer service in the market."
