Money Rain on Dunzo; Raises $28M in Series E Round Led by Google, Lightstone

• Hyperlocal logistics startup Dunzo has raised $28 million in a new funding round led by Google and Lightstone.
• This comes after a $45 million Series D round in October 2019.
• Google LLC and Lightstone are the lead investors with $15.65 million, while Lightbox, 3 L Capital, Moving Capital, Pivot Ventures, and Bhoruka Finance Corporation will collectively pump in $12.34 million in the coming weeks.
• The Bengaluru-based startup has been valued at around $245 million in the fresh round.

The Bengaluru-based Hyperlocal delivery startup Dunzo has raised $28 million in its ongoing Series E funding round led by earlier investors Google and Lightstone Fund, according to regulatory filings.

Google LLC and Lightstone are the lead investors with $15.65 million, while Lightbox, 3 L Capital, Moving Capital, Pivot Ventures, and Bhoruka Finance Corporation will collectively pump in $12.34 million in the coming weeks.

Both Google and Lightstone received 5,155 compulsorily convertible preference shares (CCPS) each translating into a combined value of $15.65 million.

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The fresh funding has come after a $45 million Series D round in October 2019 from Google, Lightbox, US-based growth equity firm 3L Capital, and South Korea's STIC Investment & STIC Ventures.

Dunzo initially started with deliveries sourced from individuals, but it has now diversified into categories such as groceries, fruits, and vegetables, fish and meat, etc.

Dunzo combines the use of both artificial intelligence and human operators to offer its services. It has a presence in regions such as Mumbai, Bengaluru, NCR, Hyderabad, and Pune. 

Of late, Dunzo has also been investing in its B2B business where it enables logistics for hyperlocal retailers. The fresh capital infusion will help Dunzo to keep in the race of the high capital burn segment with competitors like Swiggy, Zomato, BigBasket and Shadowfax among others.

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Dunzo does over 2 million transactions in a month and has a retention rate of 80-85 percent. It has around 75,000 stores on the platform and the number of deliveries from FY19 to FY20 has grown 2.5-3 times. However, the Covid-19 pandemic impacted the volume of transactions by 25%.

Dunzo was founded by Kabeer Biswas, Mukund Jha, Dalvir Suri, and Ankur Aggarwal in 2015. The company also operates a Bike Taxi service in Gurugram. It is headquartered in Bengaluru, India.