Indian wholesale platform Jumbotail bags $11m in series B2 round

Indian wholesale and grocery platform Jumbotail said it has raised US$11 million in a series B2 round of funding led by Canadian VC fund Heron Rock.

Jumbofund, Nexus Venture Partners, Siddhi Capital, Reaction Fund, Pimpernel Holdings, and a group of high net worth individuals and industry leaders also participated in the round, according to a statement.

Photo credit: Vinoth Chandar

Based in Bengaluru, Jumbotail supplies kiranas (small mom and pop shops in India) with products directly from brands to maintain their stock.

It operates its own stack ecommerce model that consists of a business-to-business (B2B) marketplace platform, its own warehousing and last-mile delivery supply chain network, as well as a fintech platform for payments.

Jumbotail said it plans to use the new funds to extend its marketplace to new geographies across India and grow its private label product portfolio. The startup also aims to expand its network of stores under the J24 brand.

Citing Mrigank Gutgutia, the director of management consulting firm RedSeer, The Financial Express reported that India’s essentials category, which includes food and groceries, is operating at pre-pandemic levels. The exec attributed the recovery mostly to India’s network of over 12 million kiranas.

“We enjoy tremendous goodwill from our kirana customers on the back of our best-in-class convenience and service, which remained uninterrupted even during the [Covid-19] lockdowns,” Jumbotail co-founder Ashish Jhina claimed.