Germany’s IEG 12 Apostel leads Pre-Series A investment in Rozana.in with 1.5 million USD; A woman-led and India’s 1st Peer Commerce Start-Up
- December 24, 2021
Leveraging tech, AI, and community Rozana.in plans to expand the Indian online B2C market and inspire a new generation of people to become entrepreneurs and financially independent.
Rozana.in is a peer-to-peer e-commerce grocery portal launched in Delhi, Noida, Greater Noida, and Lucknow. It is an AI-based peer commerce model, set to bring much-needed supply chain solutions to the industry and expand the online market to tap the potential of India’s un-yielded online grocery space.
India’s rising social commerce market is the key to the expansion of the market opportunity for online groceries. Currently, India’s E-Com market is capped at 8{1cbf4813c8737282bacb2812d6cb7a11cf9f9abdacbf749e23c668cedfdbb8f5} of India’s population. While over 50{1cbf4813c8737282bacb2812d6cb7a11cf9f9abdacbf749e23c668cedfdbb8f5} of India’s population use the internet and present on social media, it is a huge market which remains untapped even today. Even countries like Brazil have 30{1cbf4813c8737282bacb2812d6cb7a11cf9f9abdacbf749e23c668cedfdbb8f5} of their population using E-Commerce. The P2P model was adopted by the Rozana founders after carefully working and studying the Indian market for the last 6 years with their last two ventures.
With aggressive expansion plans of going into over 10 cities in the next six months including Bangalore, Mumbai, Chandigarh, Indore, Agra, and Meerut, Rozana.in looks at entering the different markets with innovative and custom strategies. With an inventory light model, it aggregates the B2B sellers and leverages the P2P model to drive high sales in the community.
Founded by first-generation entrepreneurs, this start-up has alumni of IIM Lucknow (Ms.AnkurDahiya – CEO), Harvard Law School (Mr.AdwaitVikram Singh – CSO), and St Stephens (Mr.Mukesh Christopher COO), and Prithvi Pal Singh (CPO).
Co-founder and IIM alumnus Ankur Dahiya says, “We are leveraging AI, and our experience in logistics to ensure fast growth through innovative means of customer acquisition and retention. For Rozana.in personal touch and custom strategy is helping grow quickly.”
Explaining their strategy to enter the market, CSO, Adwait Vikram Singh said, “India is not a monolith. A tier 2 city in Uttar Pradesh will have a very different strategy than Tier 2 in Karnataka. But across the cities, we have realized that convenience is key, which majorly needs a good product assortment as per the local needs. Once we understand the city’s needs, we make a custom strategy for entering the city. We do in-depth analysis and planning in launching these cities, and strategy depends on the local culture and eating habits. If we can understand that and plug the gap (even if it’s small), we will penetrate the city successfully.”
The Investment Deal
Germany’s IEG Investment Bank is leading the Pre-Series A investment round with $1.5mn in Rozana. A Peer to Peer Model is going to be crucial to expand the online market in India, thus making it a great partnership between Rozana.in and IEG Investment Bank.
Before founding Rozana.in, the founders had made a successful exit from Routier after being acquired by Ebix, a NASDAQ-listed company, in 2018. It is proven that supply chain inefficiencies can crush consumer experiences. Therefore, Rozana.in is delivering everyday supplies, with freshness and promptness.
