Express Stores Raises INR 8 Cr Seed Funding From Venture Highway The funds will be used for product-market fit, initial growth, talent addition, supply chain, and technology
By Prabhjeet Bhatla •
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Branded omnichannel chain of Bharat's kiranas Express Stores, announced on Wednesday to have raised seed funding of INR 8 crore in the funding round led by early-stage venture capital firm Venture Highway founded by Neeraj Arora, and Samir Sood with the participation of individual investors – Kunal Bahl and Rohit Bansal, Snapdeal; Anupam Mittal, People Group and Amit Singhal, Google, among others.
The funds would be utilized for product-market fit, initial growth, talent addition, supply chain, and technology.
"We believe the next big opportunity lies in the modernization of kiranas, a segment which continues to be largely unorganized. Consumers need a modern shopping experience in their neighborhood while retailers need hassle-free, profitable business operations. Express Stores, with its 360-degree solution, aims to lead this change," said Apoorv Jain, chief executive officer, and co-founder, Express Stores.
Founded in 2019 by Apoorv Jain and Kartik Gupta, the firm aims to bethe most preferred daily needs store for the neighborhood.'
"We are excited to partner with Express Stores as they represent the ambition of next-gen Indian founders solving for Bharat. Grocery is an overwhelmingly large market, and the most important thing for a startup in this space is to have a clear sight of positive unit economics. We are confident that Apoorv, Kartik, and the team are doing exactly that while scaling fast. Our goal at VH is to give back to our country's early-stage ecosystem and we continue to be extremely excited about the quality of the current generation of entrepreneurs building large businesses out of India," shared Samir Sood, founder, Venture Highway.
It organizes kirana stores through a technology-led supply chain, in-store experience, customer engagement, and branding.
"Express Stores is tapping a massive retail opportunity and have mastered their GTM and playook over the last year. I am delighted and proud to partner with the team, who have the right mix of experimentation, execution, and excellence," added Anupam Mittal, founder, People Group.
The company has achieved product-market fit with a scalable, technologically driven, and contribution margin positive business model. The founders of the company have worked in leadership roles at Urban Company, Jabong, Lazada, Flyrobe, Wadi across India, Dubai, and South-East Asian markets.
