The funds will be used for expanding into rural areas in more than 30 states and acquiring over one million kirana shop customers. ElasticRun will also use the fund to expand its services, like credit facility, nationally.
“Through the pandemic, our robust logistics and channel framework ensured uninterrupted supply and support to our rural kirana partners,” said Sandeep Deshmukh, CEO and cofounder of ElasticRun. “We have been growing at a rapid pace and are consistently expanding our store network across India.”
The latest round values the company at $1.5 billion, Deshmukh added.
ET reported on February 7th, citing regulatory filings, that the company
tripled its valuation to become a unicorn after raising funds from SoftBank.
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ElasticRun is a B2B e-commerce platform that sells FMCG products to kirana stores. It acts as an extended arm of FMCG companies’ direct distribution networks in the rural area to provide these brands with newer customers. ElasticRun also helps ecommerce companies reach customers in far-flung areas through its network of rural kirana stores.
The kirana e-commerce space is flush with tech companies with the likes of Udaan, Reliance’s Jiomart, Flipkart Wholesale and Indore-based ShopKirana all trying to organise the unorganised retail.
ElasticRun was founded by former Amazon executives Sandeep Deshmukh, Shitiz Bansal and Saurabh Nigam in 2016. The company’s existing investors include Prosus Ventures (formerly Naspers Ventures), Kalaari Capital and Avataar Ventures. The company had last
raised $75 million in April 2021 at a valuation of more than $400 million.
