After $4mn from Innoven, PepperTap to raise $11 mn more by January

New Delhi: Online grocery delivery platform PepperTap has received USD 4 million (about Rs 26.5 crore) from Innoven Capital and is looking at raising an additional USD 11 million (about Rs 73 crore) by January-end.

The company, which has raised USD 40 million so far in Series B, counts eCommerce firm Snapdeal, Sequoia India, SAIF Partners, Ru-Net, Beenext and JAFCO Asia among its investors.

"We have closed our Series B round of funding with an additional USD 4 million from Innoven Capital, in addition to the USD 36 million raised from SnapDeal (around September), Sequoia India, SAIF Partners, Ru-Net, Beenext and JAFCO Asia," PepperTap CEO Navneet Singh told PTI.

So far, PepperTap has had a total fund raise of about USD 51.2 million, he added.

"When we announced the funding from Snapdeal and others (of USD 36 million), we had said we will raise another USD 15 million. Innoven has invested in us and we are in discussion for USD 11 million. This should be announced in a month's time", he said.

The one-year old company has also acquired Bengaluru-based hyperlocal grocery delivery startup Jiffstore for an undisclosed amount.

"Jiffstore's team of 40 people will join PepperTap's Gurgaon and Bengaluru offices. PepperTap aims to use synergies with Jiffstore to build an excellent customer experience," Singh said.

While he did not disclose the size of the deal, Singh said the transaction is a mix of cash and stock.

Talking about expansion to other cities, Singh said the company is focussing on strengthening its presence in the cities of operation rather than adding new cities.

"We have seen good growth across cities. We have grown from 27 orders a day in January to 20,000 orders daily by October. About 55 per cent are repeat buyers. However, we think it is better to add more depth than to expand breadth...

Our target is to get to 80,000-90,000 orders daily by the end of next year", he said.

Singh added that the company has seen the annualised gross merchandise value (GMV) growing from USD one million at the beginning of the fiscal to USD 50 million currently.

GMV is a term used in online retailing to indicate the gross merchandise value of the products sold through the marketplace's platform over a certain period of time.