Jumbotail Raises $14.2 Mn In Series B3 Round Led By VII Ventures And Others The retail platform will use the funds to scale its core B2B marketplace to new geographies across India, expand its network of J24 stores, and grow its private label product portfolio, and to extend its go-to-market services to more FMCG brands
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Bengaluru-based retail platform and business-to-business (B2B) marketplace for food and grocery products Jumbotail announced to have raised $14.2 million in Series B3 funding round led by VII Ventures and has completed its $25 million funds, with participation from Nutresa, Veronorte, Jumbofund, Klinkert Investment Trust, Peter Crosby Trust, Nexus Venture Partners, Discovery Ventures.
This round comes in quick succession after an $11 million in Series B2 funding round raised in October 2020, bringing the total funds raised by the company to $54 million.
The B2B marketplace plans to use the funds to hire top talent, scale its core B2B marketplace to new geographies across India, expand its network of J24 stores, and grow its private label product portfolio, and to extend its go-to-market services to more fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) brands seeking entry into kirana stores and standalone supermarkets across the country.
"Jumbotail is at an inflection point in its growth trajectory. We are seeing tremendous interest from investors across the globe that is drawn to our highly scalable and operationally profitable business model, built on the industry's best technology and customer NPS. We will use this capital to scale the business to new regions, to double down on our J24 store network, and to launch a suite of services to help FMCG brands go to market exponentially faster and at the lowest cost. We are looking to bring in more top talent across the entire company to power this explosive growth," remarked Ashish Jhina, co-founder, Jumbotail, in a statement.
Jumbotail claims to serve 30,000 kirana stores via its full-stack e-commerce model consisting of its B2B marketplace platform, an industry-leading warehousing and last-mile delivery supply chain network, and a fintech platform for payment and credit solutions to kirana store owners.
"We are very excited to make this investment in Jumbotail, which is one of India's most dynamic and fast-growing businesses. We believe that Ashish and Karthik share our vision of disrupting the status quo, and we admire their fighting spirit and determination to digitalize the grocery supply chain and retail landscape in India. Jumbotail has all the ingredients for success, and we are keen to help them move forward in this next step of their journey," commented Chadi Hajjar, managing director, VII Ventures.
Its new retail platform maintains that it transforms kirana stores into modern omnichannel convenience grocery stores under the J24 brand within 24-48 hours - offering kirana retailers a full suite of in-store technology and insights, daily fulfillment of thousands of products, a business-to-consumer (B2C) online store as well as loyalty solutions to better connect retailers to their consumers, in addition to omnichannel integrations with hyperlocal platforms such as Dunzo and Swiggy.
"Jumbotail's New Retail platform powering J24 Stores is revolutionary, and their full-stack approach is the most cost-efficient and scalable way to modernize kirana stores. We have been firm believers in the team and their approach from the very beginning," added Sameer Brij Verma, managing director, Nexus Venture Partners.
It is estimated that 12 million kirana stores in India control more than 95 per cent of the country's $450 billion food and grocery market.
