Ripplr Successfully finished the series B funding round which was led by Sojitz Corporation and Stride Ventures along with existing investors 3one4 Capital, Zephyr Peacock India Growth Fund and angel investors Vivek Gupta, Abhay Hanjura (Licious), Aniket Jain, and Ashish Aggarwal (Solution Infini). This was yet another victory after the startup had successfully finished a Series A funding round closing at $3 million in January 2021.
Ripplr was founded by Abhishek Nehru and Santosh Dabke in 2019. It is a platform that offers a plug-and-play integrated distribution network to brands and is artificial intelligence-driven. It is creating online and offline end-to-end capabilities that are designed to help brands test their products in target markets. Ripplr also assists businesses in scaling distribution from a sparse number of large retail stores to countless small retail stores.
Ripplr currently has a market base in six cities with more than 30,000 retailers collaborating with brands that Ripplr has tie-ups with. Some examples of brands that have enlisted Ripplr’s help are HUL, Britannica, ITC, Reckitt, Godrej, etc. It also claims to have expanded 7x over the past year and aspires to achieve annual recurring revenue of ₹1000 crores- starting the upcoming year.
“We hope that with our latest model for the FMCG distribution and retail sector, we are successful in our ambition of disrupting traditional channels. Our AI/ML-based distribution platform strives to bring brands and unorganised retail together and figures out a way for them to work together. It also aspires to expunge distribution and information asymmetry,” remarked Abhishek Nehru, the cofounder of Ripplr.
The Indian logistics market is estimated to be worth $215 Bn. It has at a CAGR of 10.5% with only 10-15% of the market being run by organised competitors. The online vertical of the logistics market is projected to be worth between $20 Bn. It is expected to rise to $30 Bn by 2025.
Ripplr plans to deploy the freshly infused capital towards product development, attracting new talent, and expanding to new markets.
“Ripplr is a pioneer who over the path towards building a digital distribution platform in the market and gaining traction from leading Indian manufacturers. Henceforth, our aim will be to figure out the solutions which consumer goods/food manufactures are facing in the Indian market. We will do so by sharing and offering our knowledge gained through foreign wholesale business operations,” said Sari Miida. He is the general manager of the retail department in the Retail and Consumer Service Division at Sojitz Corporation.
Last month, Indian logistics unicorn Delhivery had filed its draft red herring prospectus (DRHP) with market regulator SEBI ahead of its initial public offering (IPO).