From delivering stuff door to door to becoming a unicorn startup Grofers founders Mr Albinder Dhindsa and Saurabh Kumar have come a long way

Due to the expansion of technology we now no longer have to face the inconvenience of standing in long queues and getting our shopping billed and bringing it home being hectic. Remember when even going to the nearest convenience store and shopping for household stuff was an exhausting job. But now thanks to the e-commerce community they don't have that pressure anymore. Due to startups like Grofers, these difficult and hectic errands have become easier than ever. 

Grofers delivers everything from groceries, fresh fruits & vegetables, cakes & other bakery items, meats & seafood, cosmetics, mobiles & accessories, electronics to baby care products. In the list of the best Grocery delivering apps, Grofers comes at the 2nd position and soon may achieve the top position as well with its speedy growth.

How did it all begin?

Both the founders knew each other while working for Cambridge Systematics during the late 2010s. Both have noticed the huge gap in the logistics of the delivery industry and saw a good opportunity on their way and decided to grab it. 

They noticed that the transaction between the consumers and the merchants were not so even and organised and came together to form a plan which laid the base of their startup. 

Grofers was founded in 2013 by the name of one number. It started operating in Delhi NCR before expanding to other parts of India.

It has now become a one-stop destination for all kinds of commodities that we need in our daily life. The start-up was aimed at providing the facility of on-demand pickup as well as drop service from retail shops such as groceries, pharmacies, restaurants for the customers in their area of operation.

Soon after they noticed that the main department of operation was pharmacy and grocery to which they soon made their prime market with others as the minor departments and renamed themselves as Grofers. Their business boosted during the pandemic and rumours started floating in the business circle that it would soon be going public.

To which the CEO Dhindsa added, "our path to profitability has accelerated during the lockdown, and after achieving operational profitability in January, we are on track to become EBITDA and cash positive by the end of this year. We are observing market sentiments and aim to hit the capital market by the end of 2021."

Grofers managed to receive its first funding which was 500 thousand dollars in the year 2014. In 2015, the company went on to raise $10million in its Series A funding from the firm Tiger Global Management. In the same year, Grofers managed to attract funding of $35 Million in its Series B round of funding. Subsequently, the company continued to attract investment from various investors in the following years of its operations. Grofers biggest funding to date has come from SoftBank which amounted to $61.5m.

It is backed by Tiger Global Cyriac Roeding, Roeding Ventures, Sequoia Capital and Softbank also owns 50% of Grofers. With the primary objective of delivering an improved and real-time experience to customers, Grofers has also implemented a customizable and robust ticket management system with its customer relationship executives by Freshdesk. 

Business Model

It works on a marketplace model to replace the several trips to convenience by the consumers by bringing the sellers and their products online which is why the founders call it an e-commerce platform. You can shop for groceries, Bakery, Pet Supplies, Cosmetics and soon pharmacies and appliances on the Grofers app.

The breadth of categories they offer also sets them apart from their competition which is only focused on groceries. They fulfil a total of 2000 a day all over India.

They aim to bring offline retailers online and help them grow. In the next 5 years, they aim to bring change in the lives of the customers by making all their purchases online.

Grofers's top competitors include GoPuff, Zopper, Swiggy, ezCater and Bigbasket. Grofers provides a mobile e-commerce platform for online shopping and delivery of groceries, fruits, vegetables, cosmetics, electronics, and other daily needs.

Advice by the founders of Grofers - " Be PERSISTENT! That’s the best advice that can be given. It is still easy to create and execute a vision but there will be many hurdles and pros and cons to it. It will shake your determination but all you need to do is stick to it and not give up!" The company started working on a B2B model before becoming a hyperlocal B2C delivery service.

Becoming a Unicorn Startup

In April 2020, there were several news reports on Zomato’s interest in acquiring Grofers. Talks were held between these Gurugram-based start-ups. On 29 June 2021, Zomato signed a deal with Grofers to invest nearly $120 Million in the company to acquire a 9.3% stake in the online grocery firm. In this growth soon Grofers might overtake its competitors.