Hyperlocal delivery startup Dunzo has raised $40 million in Series E funding, the company announced on Tuesday. It has raised funds from new and existing investors, including Google, Lightbox, Evolvence, Hana Financial Investment, LGT Lightstone Aspada and Alteria.
“This capital stems from a year of robust growth amidst the pandemic. In the coming year, the local commerce platform will focus on deploying its playbook for sustainable growth across its fastest-growing cities such as Mumbai, Chennai, and Pune,” Dunzo said in a statement.
It said that it saw a Gross Merchandise Value (GMV) growth of 2x in the past year, and is a~$100 million annualized GMV business. “The growth in 2020 comes on the back of strong, organic user demand while maintaining Gross Margin Profitability for the overall business,” Dunzo said.
In a statement, CEO Kabeer Biswas said they believe they are writing a playbook for how hyperlocal businesses “can be built with sustainable unit economics and capital responsibility”.
The company added that in the last six months, it has delivered to over 300 neighbourhoods in over eight cities, and has made deliveries on an average of 29 minutes. It said that as cities reopen, it has witnessed strong growth.
Google’s investment into Dunzo is a part of its $10 billion Google India Digitisation Fund. "As merchants go digital, Dunzo is helping small businesses in their digital transformation journey in support of business recovery," said Caesar Sengupta, VP, Google.
"Dunzo has been a pioneer in the hyperlocal delivery and e-commerce space. With the market potential and size of the urban convenience seekers increasing across tier 1 and tier 2 cities, Dunzo’s strong value proposition makes it a bold venture ripe for success. Its playbook on profitability has further instilled confidence in its ability to grow sustainably and we look forward to being a part of its story,” said Evolvence.