Rozana – Rural Commerce Start-Up Receives an Investment of USD 22.5 Mn from Bertelsmann India Investments (BII), Fireside Ventures and others
The funding will be utilized to fuel Rozana expansion into new districts, upgrade its technology platform, and increase hiring in technology, product, and operations teams.
Over 90% of the consumers are first time e-commerce users.
Overwhelming majority of Peer Partners are women.
06 March 2024, India: Rozana, a rural commerce startup announced its latest funding round of USD 22.5 Mn. The round was led by Bertelsmann India Investments (BII) with participation from Fireside Ventures and existing investors. Rozana’s mission is to leverage tech and data science to cater to unique local demands of 1 billion Indians outside the scope of online commerce.
Founded in 2021 by Ankur Dahiya, Adwait Vikram Singh, Mukesh Christopher and Prithvi Pal Singh. Rozana operates an e-commerce platform and logistics network focused exclusively on serving the needs of rural communities in India. The company presently serves more than 12000 villages across 13 districts in Uttar Pradesh and Haryana.
The new capital will be used to expand Rozana’s warehousing and logistics reach into new districts, enhance its technology platform, and boost hiring across technology, product and operations teams.
“Rural India represents a massive and underserved e-commerce opportunity consisting of nearly a billion people,” said Ankur Dahiya, CEO and Co-founder of Rozana. “With this funding, we will continue building out our logistics and supply chain infrastructure to reach new districts and empower rural communities with access to essential products.”
“The opportunity in rural India is greatly underappreciated and this team is the ideal one to unlock it. The offering created by Ankur, Adwait and Mukesh is outstanding and it is hard to find a company with such consumer love.” expressed Rohit Sood, Partner at Bertelsmann India Investments. “The possibility to create meaningful impact in millions of lives excites us and we are thrilled to partner with Rozana on this journey.”
Rozana has built a hyperlocal e-commerce model utilizing village-based “peer partners” to make last-mile deliveries. This allows Rozana to offer rural customers convenience through delivery to their doorstep while keeping costs low. The company currently has a network of over 18000 peer partners, who are able to earn additional income through Rozana.
“We know that rural India offers a great opportunity to build the next generation of assisted commerce businesses. Rozana’s focus on providing a wide range of products across categories in rural markets and the unique background of their founders make them well-poised to build a very successful business. The Rozana model of appointing peer partners from within the village communities, especially women, is equally commendable. We are excited to join them in this journey,” said Kanwal Singh, Founder and Managing Partner, Fireside Ventures.
The round also saw significant participation from Vivek Gupta, Co-Founder, Licious, who now serves on the board of the company. “I first met the founders at an investor event, the founders told me about India’s rural landscape and the opportunity along with the challenges. Their understanding of rural India after spending years working in supply chain with rural focus intrigued me about Rozana. I traveled to remote villages and was very impressed to see the aspirations and key pain points of the consumer. Rozana is building an impressive model for that part of India, which has been largely outside the scope of the tech revolution”, expressed Vivek.
“At 3one4 Capital, we are excited about the commerce potential waiting to be unlocked beyond tier-1 in India. With Rozana’s deep network and consumer insight in this segment, they’re poised to revolutionize and capitalize on this untapped market. We are thrilled to partner with the Rozana team as they lead the charge in transforming a peer-led distribution network, unlocking new avenues for commerce in India,” said Nitya Agarwal, VP, Investments, 3one4 Capital.
Rozana, has presence and operates across 13 districts spanning Uttar Pradesh and Haryana, facilitated by an extensive network of approximately 18000 peer partners, commonly referred to as last-mile partners. These peer partners predominantly consist of village residents, with over 90% of them being women. Their primary responsibility involves consolidating orders and making deliveries within their local communities, typically comprising 30 to 40 households.
Rozana will be working very closely with Binny Bansal’s xto10x to work on creating India’s fastest-growing rural commerce company. xto10x is working on a long-term partnership with Rozana on warehouse design, last-mile delivery, technology, category launch, etc.
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