VII Ventures Leads $14.2M Series B3 Funding Round for Jumbotail – India’s leading Food and Grocery Ecommerce and New Retail Platform

January 12 21:03 2021
The newly launched venture capital firm expands its already impressive portfolio by leading a competitive funding round for Jumbotail, one of the leading companies in the global grocery ecommerce and new retail sector

VII Ventures (pronounced ‘Seven Ventures’) has today confirmed its position as the lead investor in Jumbotail’s Series B3 funding round. Jumbotail is an online wholesale marketplace and new retail platform for grocery and food items, based in India, serving more than 30,000 Kirana (mom & pop grocery) stores via its full stack e-commerce model. The $14.2m series B3 fundraise, which follows an $11m Series B2 round in October 2020, will allow Jumbotail to scale its business to new geographies; expand its private label portfolio; and partner with more FMCG brands and to grow its network of J24 modern convenience stores.

With more than 95% of India’s $450bn food and grocery market flowing through over 12 million Kirana stores –these stores are the tried-and-true economic engine of India. But when the COVID-19 pandemic hit, traditional supply chains serving these stores ground to a screeching halt. “Jumbotail’s ecommerce marketplace and its highly resilient supply chain, built on a proprietary in-house technology platform, allowed the company to serve its customers every single day of the lockdown – thereby winning the trust of thousands of mom & pop retailers as well as that of hundreds of FMCG brands,” said Ashish Jhina, Cofounder & COO of Jumbotail.

“The food and grocery industry is one that was completely upended by the COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent lockdowns, and yet Jumbotail has continued to grow and execute at extraordinary levels,” said Chadi Hajjar, Managing Director at VII Ventures. “We believe in the company’s vision and have been impressed by the rapid growth of their business in such a short time span. Jumbotail has huge potential and scalability for domestic and international growth, and we look forward to working with them in the next step of their journey.” 

Karthik Venkateswaran, Cofounder & CEO of Jumbotail commented: “The VII Ventures team has shown great conviction, and a solid understanding of our business. The Fund’s investment directors are successful entrepreneurs with deep experience in building and scaling businesses. We are excited to partner with them and learn from their expertise to help scale Jumbotail to the next level.”

Jumbotail, founded in 2015 by Stanford Business School classmates, S.Karthik Venkateswaran, and Ashish Jhina, operates a food and grocery ecosystem consisting of an online marketplace that connects mom & pop grocery retailers (Kiranas) with FMCG brands and food manufacturers, a supply chain & logistics platform, a fintech platform for SME lending, and a retail platform that powers its J24 branded convenience grocery stores. The company has raised $40M prior to its current fundraise.  

VII Ventures is a stage agnostic venture capital group investing in entrepreneurs that are accelerating a shift towards a more sustainable and circular economy. The firm has a proven track-record of nurturing companies and providing investors with superior returns. Its strategy is built on putting together diversified portfolios of technology-based ventures led by winners in their segments and supporting those investments through to a successful exit. The firm’s portfolio includes companies in the U.S, India, Canada and Europe and to date, has invested in more than 14 leading start-ups.

Hajjar continued: “At VII Ventures, we look for people, products and platforms that aim to harness technology to solve the world’s biggest problems. Despite all of the disruption the world has seen over the last year, we are optimistic for the future. We have an excellent pipeline of opportunities that we believe will drive long-term growth and success. I feel confident that the firm will continue to grow and thrive in 2021, and I am excited about the chance we have to help world-changing companies move forward.”  

Notes to Editors

Founded by Chadi Hajjar in 2020, VII Ventures is a venture capital firm registered in the Cayman Islands. It is regulated by the Cayman Islands Private Funds Law 2020 and registered with the Cayman Islands Monetary Authority (CIMA).

Jumbotail is an online wholesale marketplace for grocery and food items, serving 30,000 kirana stores via its full stack e-commerce model consisting of its B2B marketplace platform, an industry leading warehousing and last-mile delivery supply chain network, and a fintech platform for payment and credit solutions to kirana store owners. It was founded by S.Karthik Venkateswaran, and Ashish Jhina, Stanford MBA classmates. Karthik served with the Indian army in hard combat and is a marketplaces product veteran from eBay-US and Flipkart. Ashish Jhina is a 3rd generation apple farmer, and a former consultant with BCG, with deep experience in agricultural production and supply chains.

The three-and-a-half-year old start-up employs about 140 people and has raised over $24 million to date.

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