Mumbai: LoveLocal, India’s leading hyper-local e-commerce platform empowering local retailers, has raised $18m or INR 143 crores, in a Pre-Series B investment round that features some of the most prominent investors and founders globally. The round, which was oversubscribed, is led by Vulcan Capital, and also includes participation from Klarna Founder & CEO Sebastian Siemiatkowski’s Flat Capital, Alumni Ventures Group, and Commerce Ventures. Angel investors Nami Zarringhalam, Co-founder of Truecaller, Sriram Krishnan, General Partner at Andreessen Horowitz, Anna Lambert, Director of Product Acceleration at Shopify, Sarah Jones Simmer, CEO of Found & ex-COO of Bumble, Arpan Sheth, Senior Partner at Bain & Company, and others also participated.
Existing investors Blume Ventures, AC Ventures, HenkelX Ventures, Chiratae Ventures also invested – with Candy Ventures significantly increasing their ownership in this round.
Tommy Teo, Managing Director & Head of South Asia at Vulcan Capital, says: “We couldn’t be prouder and more excited to back LoveLocal. LoveLocal’s rapid growth in the past 18 months is a testament to the team’s singular focus on empowering local retailers and a demonstration of the resilience and relevance of the neighborhood store in the daily lives of Indian homes across the country. We look forward to partnering with Akanksha and the team in this next phase of growth.”
Launched in January 2020, LoveLocal is revolutionizing how India shops by empowering local retailers and digitizing the $1.1 trillion unorganized retail market. LoveLocal has grown 40x since inception and currently serves over 35+ cities and 1300+ pincodes, across India. In just 18 months, LoveLocal has signed up more than 100,000 retailers and fulfilled more than 1 million orders. It continues to grow rapidly at 35%+ month on month. LoveLocal has India’s largest online catalog of daily essential items with 55,000 products sold across 145 categories.
Akanksha Hazari, Founder & CEO of LoveLocal, says: “We have always believed in the local retailer. They win on every consumer consideration: service, quality, product selection, value, credit, free delivery and speed of delivery. Local businesses also account for more than 40% of jobs in India. They are the bedrock of our communities and the economy. LoveLocal is bridging the technology gap to ensure that our local retailers not just survive but thrive in India 2.0 and beyond.”
In a world where most e-commerce platforms are displacing local retail, LoveLocal is here to empower local businesses and level the playing field. Focused on the hyperlocal daily needs categories i.e. grocery, chemist, fresh fruits & vegetables, dairy, & more – LoveLocal provides a full-stack digitization platform to local retailers that takes their businesses online, strengthens their consumer relationships, and provides actionable insights so that retailers can manage their businesses more effectively. LoveLocal consumers can now discover their entire neighborhood in the palm of their hand and enjoy a complete e-commerce shopping experience powered by their favorite local shops.
LoveLocal Retail Partner Mohd. Umar, Owner of Haji Iqbal Store, shares: “My store joined LoveLocal in October 2020. This was a critical time when customers were scared of physically coming to the store. After I set up my shop online on LoveLocal, I saw 60% growth in my shop’s business through the pandemic. Even now these customers continue to purchase from home. Customer behavior has changed permanently. A lot of my earlier customers have also switched to digital. LoveLocal is the reason my business survived Covid second wave, and will continue to succeed in this new digital era.”
Indian retail is powered by more than 60 million local businesses. They represent 95% of the $1.1trillion retail market. Despite the launch of e-commerce and new big box retail options, this unorganized market has more than doubled in the past 5 years and 86% of the average Indian consumer’s shopping continues to happen locally, within 3-4 kilometers of home, at local neighborhood shops. As over a billion Indian consumers move online, these local shops must transform to serve this new digitally-driven shopper.
Anna Lambert, Director of Product Acceleration at Shopify says: “LoveLocal’s mission to empower local businesses deeply resonates with me. Based on my experience in this domain, I have confidence in LoveLocal’s product and business model. I have met many founders and interviewed thousands of people – and in getting to know Akanksha and the team it’s clear they have the smarts, experience and grit to successfully build a high impact business at scale. I am excited to be a part of LoveLocal’s journey.”
Largest investment round ever raised by a solo woman tech founder in India.
Founded by Akanksha Hazari, LoveLocal’s Pre-Series B marks the largest round ever raised by a solo woman tech founder in India. This represents a huge step forward in the rapidly growing Indian startup ecosystem and comes at a time when less than 1% of Indian VC deals are invested in women-only led companies. Moreover, the country is grappling with a sharply declining female labour force participation rate, the lowest in South Asia.
Sarah Jones Simmer, CEO of Found & ex-COO of Bumble says: “It’s an honor to back Akanksha and LoveLocal. We first connected when I was leading Bumble’s launch in India, and I was immediately struck by her vision, passion, and understanding of the market opportunity. To participate in this groundbreaking round is especially inspiring to me given the chance I had to work for Whitney Wolfe Herd, Bumble’s founder and CEO, whose journey has helped pave the way for other women leaders around the world.”
Akanksha is a Princeton University and Cambridge University alumnus. A successful second-time entrepreneur, she has won multiple awards and has 10+ years of business experience across India, MENA, and the USA. Akanksha is the only Indian tech entrepreneur to be featured in the book that celebrates 100 global women leaders who are redefining power, alongside Melinda Gates, Serena Williams, Greta Thunberg, and many other inspiring women. Akanksha speaks six languages and is a former competitive squash player ranked among the top 20 junior players internationally.
“I am grateful to be a part of this milestone in the Indian startup ecosystem. For the tech and startup world to truly build businesses that serve society, they need to reflect society. Just as I walk the road that has been paved by the women that have come before me, I hope that this will inspire more women and girls to lead, and male allies to champion them,” Akanksha shares.
Backed by some of the best founders in the world
Some of the most successful founders in the world are investing in LoveLocal. Sebastian Siemiatkowski, Founder of Klarna, the largest BNPL company in the world, and Nami Zarringham, Co-Founder of Truecaller, which recently went public, both joined LoveLocal’s Pre-Series B investment round. Kevin Aluwi, the Co-Founder & CEO of Gojek also invested in LoveLocal’s Series A round.
Sebastian Siemiatkowski, Founder & CEO of Klarna, says: “LoveLocal is the most exciting business I have seen in a long time. We had the opportunity to meet Akanksha in person, and I found her extremely impressive. Akanksha is the rare type of entrepreneur that I feel I meet at most once every 5 years. On behalf of Flat Capital, I am thrilled and honoured to invest, and delighted to be a part of the LoveLocal journey.”
Nami Zarringhalam, Co-founder of Truecaller, says: “LoveLocal has both vision and execution, backed by an experienced team with years working directly with local businesses on the ground. At Truecaller, I’ve seen first hand how much potential there is in India. I believe I’m backing the right founder and team with LoveLocal that can realise the transformation of Indian retail.”
In the next 3 years, LoveLocal aims to take 1 million local retailers online and power the largest hyperlocal e-commerce platform in India. It will use the Pre-Series B funds to invest in product development, key hires, and accelerate growth and expansion across Tier 1-3 cities across India. LoveLocal will continuously expand the digitisation solutions it provides its retail partners to grow their businesses. Hazari added, “The future of Indian retail is, and must be, local.”
Nick Candy, Founder of Candy Ventures, says: “Candy Ventures believes LoveLocal has the potential to become India’s next big success story. Akanksha is a truly mission-driven, visionary founder and has the potential to change the face of retail in India with her ambitious plans to digitise the trillion-dollar unorganised retail market. Candy Ventures looks forward to supporting Akanksha and her team in their ongoing journey to becoming one of the most successful technology businesses in India.”
Karthik Reddy, Co-Founder & Managing Partner at Blume Ventures, says: “Akanksha has been an incredible founder, in building and rallying her team to intensely focus on the smaller local retailer, who evolved rapidly post Jio and wants to serve their customer base better. The strength of LoveLocal’s core offering around retailer’s needs is apparent in its rapid growth, strong product adoption, and high user stickiness.”
