Reliance Retail acquires 25.8% stake in Dunzo, leads $240M round

Bengaluru-based delivery platform Dunzo today announced it has raised $240 million (about Rs 1,786 crore) in a new funding round led by both new and existing investors at a valuation of $775 million, getting closer to becoming a unicorn startup.

Reliance Retail led the new round, invested $200 million for a fully diluted stake of 25.8% in the delivery startup. Existing investors, including Alteria Capital, Lightbox, Lightrock, and 3L Capital, also participated in the round.

With this, Dunzo will work with Reliance Retail to enable hyperlocal logistics for the retail stores operated by Reliance Retail, further adding on to Reliance Retail's omnichannel capabilities. Additionally, the Bengaluru-based firm will also facilitate last-mile deliveries for JioMart's merchant network.

Dunzo, which has now raised over $268 million in funding, says the raised capital will be used to fuel its vision to become the largest quick commerce business in the country, enabling instant delivery of essentials from a network of micro warehouses while also expanding its B2B business vertical to enable logistics for local merchants in Indian cities.

At present, The startup is operating in seven metro cities, including Mumbai, Bengaluru, Chennai, New Delhi, Hyderabad, Gurgaon, Pune, and is aiming to expand to another 15 cities.

Founded in 2015 by Kabeer Biswas, Ankur Agarwal, Dalvir Suri, and Mukund Jha, The delivery firm provides a wide range of delivery services to its customers such as groceries, food, medicines, pet supplies, etc.

Earlier this year, Dunzo launched its instant delivery model 'Dunzo Daily' in Bengaluru, which is seeing over 20% week-on-week growth, it claims. With Dunzo Daily, the delivery firm focuses on delivering daily and weekly essentials within 15-20 minutes.

"Dunzo is the pioneer of Quick Commerce in India and we want to support them in furthering their ambitions of becoming a prominent local commerce enabler in the country," Isha Ambani, Director, Reliance Retail Ventures Limited, says.

"Through our partnership with Dunzo, we will be able to provide increased convenience to Reliance Retail’s consumers and differentiated customer experience through the rapid delivery of products from Reliance Retail stores. Our merchants will get access to the hyperlocal delivery network of Dunzo to support their growth as they move their business online through Jio Mart," she adds.

Speaking on the development, Kabeer Biswas, CEO & Co-founder, Dunzo, said:

“Since our inception, we have been razor-focused on providing an unmatched customer experience and this funding round is a resounding validation of our approach. I am proud of the team for tirelessly building this category over the past three years and grateful to our investors for their continued support."

"We’re excited by the traction and velocity that Dunzo Daily has achieved and over the next 3 years, we aim to establish ourselves as one of the most reliable quick commerce providers in the country," Kabeer adds.

According to the company, US-based Morgan Stanley acted as exclusive financial advisor and Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas acted as legal counsel to Dunzo.

AZB & Partners acted as legal counsel to RRVL and Deloitte, Haskins & Sells LLP provided financial due diligence services.

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• SBI invests in merchant commerce platform Pine Labs

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