Gurugram-based B2B e-commerce startup MaxWholesale that provides products to Indian mom-and-pop stores, locally known as kiranas, has raised USD 3 million led by Indian Angel Network (IAN) and Al Falaj Investment Company (AFI), an Abu Dhabi based private family office.
Existing investors including Maple Capital, Infoedge’s former CFO Ambarish Raghuvanshi, Maple Capital’s Abhinav Grover, and a few other angel investors also participated in this round.
MaxWholesale claims to have partnered with over 150 FMCG (fast-moving consumer goods) companies to help kirana stores discover the best price and scheme to buy products for selling. The company has roped in these stores to help them manage their inventory and operates its own logistics subsidiary to enable next-day delivery to its customers. It claimed to have clocked 20 times revenue growth last year compared to 2018.
There are about 15 million kirana shops in India. These mom-and-pop shops rule three-fourth of the overall retail market in India, making this space lucrative for all technology companies.
“There was a dire need for technology in this sector and hence, we introduced data science into this field to make restocking more predictable and organized. With this approach, we are aiming to change the way in which the business is done at these stores,” Samarth Agrawal, founder & CEO, MaxWholesale, told local media Economic Times.
Even though India has more than 500 million internet users, more than 97% of the nation’s population prefers to buy its groceries offline from their neighborhood Kirana merchants, the company said in a statement.
MaxWholesale competes with companies such as ShopKirana, Jumbotail, Udaan, and Amazon.