B2B E-Grocer Peel-Works to Raise Rs 225 Crore; To Expand Business in Tier 2 & 3 Cities

The Company has 20% month-on-month growth since lockdown 

 

Peel-works, a B2B grocery e-commerce Company which operates through the app, “Taikee”, plans to raise Rs 225 crore to expand its business in Tier 2 & 3 cities and establish its footprints beyond 10 major cities where it currently operates in.

 

The Mumbai headquartered Company that primarily facilitates FMCG and consumer goods distribution to Corner stores across India has witnessed its turnover increasing by 20 per cent month on month after the outbreak of the novel coronavirus. As the heart of traditional FMCG retail lies in the nooks and corners of every Indian cities, the Company is expanding its operations beyond metro cities to tap into a larger retailer network and provide them with a wide assortment at great prices, faster fulfillment and credit at good rates via its App ‘Taikee’.

Founded in 2010, Peel-Works has been analysing and working with the traditional grocery retail industry since its inception and launched their tech enabled B2B platform- Taikee to provide solutions to major market challenges faced by the humble and omnipresent kirana store owners. The platform already has a network of more than 20,000 retailers spread across 10 cities. Since inception the Company has raised more than Rs 100 crore from various investors, including Chiratae, Inventus Capital, HDFC Bank, Unilever Ventures, Indian Angel Network, Equanimity, and a few more.

The demand for Taikee increased exponentially during the ongoing pandemic as CornerStore owners set to find a solution for the supply chain disruptions. The lockdown resulted in overstocking by end consumers putting the pressure of fulfilment on neighbourhood corner stores. With an increased demand for new product categories like sanitizers, masks and other hygiene items that needed frequent replenishment, retailers adopted e-commerce distribution platforms on a massive scale.

"The pandemic has shown the potential of a B2B marketplace attracting multiple new players in the industry. With our years of experience, we aim to scale our operations to 30 cities and onboard one lakh retailers by 2021. We will need both equity and debt funding to expand Taikee. We are looking to raise USD 30 million," Peel-Works founder Sachin Chhabra said.

He said the company would focus on building an extensive assortment of products to drive higher profitability for corner stores.

“Corner Stores have ensured a smooth and uninterrupted supply of goods to its customers during this pandemic. We pride ourselves in having played an important role in making inventory available in time and at great prices to our retail partners," Chhabra said.

Chhabra also highlighted that packaged foods, health and personal care, home cleaning and sanitation products are high in demand. Demand for family pack size SKUs (stock keeping units) has also increased considerably.

During the early days of the lockdown, Taikee, supported corner stores by increasing the number of fulfilment centres, sourcing directly from brands and adding a mix of known and new local labels as its partners like Tjori Hand Sanitizers, Nutramantra Sanitizers, Unibic, Marico, Himalaya, Gold Winner, Mother Dairy and Sundrop among many others. In doing so, Taikee has been able to meet the increasing demands of its consumer’s consumer.

With a deep understanding of the various financial and logistical challenges faced by the Indian grocery retail landscape, Taikee by Peel-Works has dedicated itself to provide better lives to corner stores. Sachin says that Taikee is working relentlessly towards providing a wider assortment across FMCG categories, making credit available to retailers at a fair cost and increasing their profitability. With its expansion plans, Taikee will embark on a journey to multiply its network.

Peel-works Pvt Ltd is a Mumbai headquartered B2B grocery e-commerce company that operates the retail management platform, Taikee.

The Company was founded in 2010 and has raised more than Rs 100 crore from various investors, including Chiratae, Inventus Capital, HDFC Bank, Unilever Ventures, Indian Angel Network, Equanimity, and a few more. About Taikee - 

Taikee is our mission to provide better lives for corner stores. At the backend, it is an e-commerce B2B platform that serves the neighborhood corner store. We attempt to deliver all that it takes for stores to be more productive, profitable, and help serve their customers better, and thereby serve the country in turn. Be it through a broader range of products at better margins, faster replenishment to manage working capital better, credit facilities, customer insights or other value-added services for retailers, Taikee keeps corner stores at the core of its business.

Big Data Analysis Firm Peel-Works Raises $5 Mn from Equanimity Ventures, HDFC Bank and Others

Mumbai-based Peel-Works, a big-data and analytics startup focussed on retailing, has raised $5 million in Series B in a round led by Equanimity Ventures. The funding round also saw participation from HDFC Bank, Bruno Raschle and existing investors Unilever Ventures, Chiratae Ventures and Inventus Capital India, reports LiveMint.

The company has two proprietary software products -- Taikee, a B2B e-commerce platform and Athena, a 'real'​ market measurement standard for unorganised retail. The fresh capital raised will allow Peel-Works to strengthen Taikee by expand its footprint to other geographical markets. Taikee currently claims to have over 20,000 registered retailers across 16 cities, including Delhi/NCR, Mumbai, Jaipur, Bangalore, Pune, Mysore, Chennai, and others.

Peel-Works was founded in 2010 by Sachin Chhabra, who is an XLRI Jamshedpur alumnus and a Bachelor’s degree in Economics from St. Stephen’s College, Delhi.

“The funds will be used to expand business across 25 cities and on board 100,000 retailers over the next six to twelve months” said Sachin Chhabra, founder & CEO, Peel Works. In the grocery segment, Peel-Works is looking to hit close to a $1 billion in GMV run rate in 2019, the company said.

He added that Indian shoppers continue to rely on brick-and-mortar stores for their monthly and daily grocery needs. “Taikee helps these retailers grow faster, retain their customers and improve their profitability. The platform delivers this by helping the retailer right-size his assortment, buy it cheaper, and adopt technology that makes it convenient for shoppers to transact with him," said Chhabra.

So far, the startup has managed to raise a total of about $7 million in funding over four rounds. In July 2014, Peel-Works had raised $2 million in series-A of funding from IDG Ventures India and Inventus Capital Partner. Earlier in 2011, Indian Angel Network (IAN) had also invested a $1 million in Peel-Works.

Rakesh Singh, Group Head-Investment Banking, Private Banking, Capital Markets and Financial Institutions, HDFC Bank, said, "We believe Peel-Works, with their data-driven/tech-led approach, complements HDFC Bank's own focus on delivering value to Indian retailers with digital solutions and banking services. Neighborhood grocery stores are at the centre of India’s retail story and represent a vast market."

Big-data analytics startup Peel-Works got $2mn funding from IDG Ventures India and Inventus Capital Partners

Mumbai-based SaaS and big data analytics startup Peel-Works have got $2 million (about Rs 12 crore) in series-A of funding from IDG Ventures India and Inventus Capital Partner. Earlier in 2011, Indian Angel Network (IAN) had also invested a $1 million in Peel-Works.

"The two new key markets are the United States and south-east Asia, and we expect to have a present in these geographies in the next six to 12 months," said Sachin Chhabra, founder & CEO, Peel-Works.

Founded in 2010 by Sachin Chhabra, Peel-Works enables companies to keep tabs on people who close the sales cycle to check whether they are performing optimally. The start-up's cloud-based solution, called - 9Yards, gives companies analytics data on nine parameters to measure the performance of sales staff.

Another Peel-works' product called - Genius, analyses sales data, salesforce data and other relevant internal & external data to provide actionable insight on the employee performance, enabling companies to make quicker decision making.

The company has built a SaaS based Salesforce transformation and analytics platform that provides presence and performance management capabilities for companies with large extended salesforce.

This is also the second time that IDG Ventures and Inventus have joined hands to invest in a company. In October last year, both firm co-invested $2 million in Bangalore-based product recommendation platform Unbxd.

IDG Ventures is a global family of venture funds with approximately $3.6 billion under management. IDG Venture India has also been an investor in online companies such as Myntra, FirstCry.com, Yatra and Zivame.com. Inventus Capital partner on other hand had invested in Indian online startups such as - Dhingana, RedBus.in, PolicyBazaar.com and Vizury.