Jumbotail, a new retail platform and B2B marketplace for food and grocery products, has raised Rs 35 crore from Alteria Capital.
This venture debt round comes after a $25 million equity round concluded in January 2021. The company plans to use the funds to expand its operations across the entire country, fund its working capital requirements, and scale its SME focused fintech business.
Ashish Jhina, co-founder, Jumbotail, said, “Covisd has accelerated the digital transformation of the food and FMCG sector and it is very evident to all players that digital marketplaces are indispensable for their continued growth. We are seeing rapid adoption of our platform and services from retailers and brands across all geographies. Our J24 store network is growing fast and a large number of FMCG brands are signing up for our go-to-market suite of services to get national reach. We are looking to bring in more top talent across the entire company to power this explosive growth.”
Ankit Agarwal, partner, Alteria Capital commented, “Jumbotail is emerging as a market leader in the $500B+ B2B grocery market, driven by scalable tech platforms, full stack logistics and supply chain network, and fintech and SME lending solutions. We believe Ashish and Karthik are building Jumbotail as an industry defining company of the decade and we are glad to partner with them in their mission to transform food and grocery retail in India.”
Jumbotail serves 50,000+ 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. Jumbotail’s new retail platform transforms kirana stores into modern omni-channel convenience grocery stores under the J24 brand within 24-48 hours - offering kirana retailers a full suite of in-store POS technology and insights, daily fulfillment of thousands of products, a B2C online store as well as loyalty solutions to better connect retailers to their consumers, in addition to omnichannel integrations with hyperlocal platforms.
Sameer Brij Verma, MD, Nexus Venture Partners, adds, “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”.
Jumbotail was founded by S Karthik Venkateswaran, and Ashish Jhina, Stanford MBA classmates. Karthik served with the Indian Army in hard combat and is a marketplaces tech/product veteran from eBay-US and Flipkart. Ashish is a third generation apple farmer, and a former consultant with BCG, with deep experience in agricultural production and supply chains.
An estimated 12 million kirana stores in India control more than 95% of the country’s $500B+ food and grocery market. Technology, supply chain, and fintech solutions from startups like Jumbotail are poised to transform the kirana store ecosystem at an unprecedented pace and scale over the next few years.
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