Whereas India’s city inhabitants is shifting from mom-and-pop shops to fast commerce platforms, its rural aspect — dwelling to greater than 800 million individuals — nonetheless closely depends on offline companies for every day consumption. Wheelocity goals to rework that untapped market to let individuals dwelling past the highest 200 cities of the nation simply store on-line.
The Chennai-headquartered startup, based in September 2021, has pivoted from the earlier B2B provide chain enterprise for fast commerce platforms into constructing a platform to unravel e-commerce entry for individuals dwelling in semi-urban. and rural areas, generally known as “Bharat.”
For a very long time, e-commerce giants Amazon and Walmart-owned Flipkart have tried to faucet rural India to get deeper into the world’s second-biggest web market after China. The area has additionally attracted startups together with Meesho and Rozana. Nevertheless, Wheelocity founder and CEO Selvam VMS informed TechCrunch that none of them may crack that area as a result of entry downside.
“Our strategy to fixing this downside is extraordinarily distinctive,” he stated in an interview. “We’re centered on constructing a 100x higher various for our shoppers.”
Wheelocity has begun the shift by offering freshly produced items together with greens and fruits and groceries by way of its app. Nevertheless, in contrast to conventional e-commerce platforms that promote merchandise on-line, the startup has taken a “phygital” strategy. This consists of electrical three-wheelers to let the startup take its merchandise into villages bodily every day to assist achieve the belief of shoppers. These autos let shoppers place orders utilizing Wheelocity’s app and get deliveries on their doorstep.
As soon as they get used to it, shoppers will begin utilizing the Wheelocity app at dwelling, VMS predicted.
The manager added that, in contrast to Wheelocity, which gives doorstep deliveries every day, different e-commerce platforms use their take so long as every week to get merchandise delivered in the identical area. This makes it a problem to ship recent consumable gadgets and groceries.
Wheelocity makes use of its present provide chain, constructed for the sooner B2B enterprise, to supply prospects freshly produced items and groceries quicker. After procuring them from third events together with farmers, the merchandise attain shoppers with Wheelocity’s branding.
VMS sees the shift, which silently began in October 2023, as a $1 trillion-plus alternative. He didn’t disclose the business-related figures however stated the startup had a “very, superb retention.”
The startup presently gives its e-commerce platform in 3,500 villages in central Tamil Nadu and owns 1,000 electrical autos to permit bodily order-placing and deliveries. It has already established an operations workplace in Tamil Nadu’s tier-II metropolis of Trichy to grasp shoppers’ shopping for habits higher and get their suggestions. Subsequent, it plans to scale the enterprise to twenty,000 cities and villages and broaden it to all 5 southern states of India throughout the subsequent 12 months, taking its platform to 10 million shoppers.
Lightspeed, Wheelocity’s present investor, has backed the newest transfer by main its Collection A2 spherical of $15 million. In July 2022, the VC fund had led the startup’s $12 million Collection A spherical.
Alteria Capital, Anicut Capital, and VMS additionally participated in Wheelocity’s recent spherical. Additional, the spherical consists of an undisclosed quantity of debt, primarily to gas the financing of its electrical fleet.
Lightspeed associate Rahul Taneja informed TechCrunch that the VC fund determined to reinvest into Wheelocity because the market measurement was considerably giant and untapped and the startup created a singular enterprise mannequin, “which permits worthwhile protection of the areas which have been traditionally not doable.”
The founder’s high quality and keenness for constructing a “profit-making enterprise” earlier than pivoting additionally helped persuade Lightspeed to shut the deal, Taneja stated.
Transferring focus to smaller cities and villages in India has been an rising pattern within the VC market, as shoppers in these areas typically have disposable revenue and intent to purchase. Earlier this 12 months, Accel additionally began wanting on the area to hunt for future unicorns.
