Delivery start-up Roadrunnr gets $10 m from Sequoia, Nexus Venture

With hyperlocal delivery start-ups being the flavour of the season, investors are looking for several such start-ups that aim to make smooth, convenient and faster delivery.

Investors are even ready to write larger cheques for nascent start-ups.

According to sources, Bengaluru-based delivery company Roadrunnr has scooped up a funding of $10 million (about ₹63 crore) in the very first round from marquee investors such as Sequoia and Nexus Venture Partners.

While, Sequoia declined to comment, Roadrunner’s co-founder Aaravind Reddy told BusinessLine that the company was raising a substantial amount but would not be able to divulge the exact amount. The company has raised a very small seed funding earlier.

Unlike other hyperlocal delivery companies, Roadrunnr is a B2B venture and has other e-commerce and offline retailers as their clients.

The venture is not meant for consumers.

The company has been piloting with chains and food delivery companies such as TinyOwl, Bhukkad, PizzaStop, Calvins, Grabeat and Faaso’s in Bengaluru.

It is also soon entering Mumbai, Delhi, Gurgaon and Hyderabad.

Roadrunnr is founded by IIT Kharagpur alumni Aaravind Reddy along with Mohit Kumar and Arpit Dave, who also are from Reddy’s alma mater. All the three founders are also ex-employees of e-commerce major Flipkart.

Delivery boys

According to a source, Roadrunnr is intending to build Uber-for-food delivery in the long run.

Delivery boys will plug in to the Roadrunnr platform and start getting orders in the vicinity, just like what Uber cab drivers do.

Since there is a huge demand for delivery boys in the market and unorganised workers tend to prefer full-time jobs than part-time assignments, they are taking a portion of delivery boys on payroll and some on hourly basis.

Several start-ups working around the hyper-local model have raised substantial funding in the last six months. Recently, Swiggy, a hyperlocal food ordering and delivery platform, raised about $16.5 million. It had raised $2 million in January this year.

Similarly Delhi-based Zopper and PepperTap raised about $20 million and $10 million recently from investors such as SAIF Partners, Sequoia, Helion and Tiger Global.

Other players that received investments are Jiffstore, Grofers (Tiger Global invested $35 million) and ZopNow.

These start-ups enable customers to buy anything from grocery and apparel to medical supplies and consumer durables from their neighbourhood stores and ensure delivery in less than three hours.

Hyperlocal players are also creating an ecosystem that helps both online and offline players to flourish in the highly burgeoning e-commerce market.