m.Paani, a local retailer digitization platform, has raised $5.5m in a Series A investment round led by AC Ventures, Henkel, Candy Ventures,along with angel investors Kevin Aluwi, CEO and Co-Founder of Gojek, Ryu Suliawan, and Suvir Varma. Existing investors Chiratae Ventures and Blume Ventures also participated in the round. The company was founded by Akanksha Hazari in 2014.
m.Paani will use these funds to invest in product development, accelerate growth & expansion, and hirings.
In a media statement, Akansha Hazari-Ericson, CEO and Founder of m.Paani, said: “We have always believed in the local retailer. They win on every consumer consideration – service, quality, product selection, value, credit, and delivery speed. Small businesses also account for more than 40 percent of employment. They are a bedrock of communities and the economy. m.Paani is bridging the technology gap to ensure that our local retailers not just survive but thrive in India 2.0. The future of Indian retail is, and must be, local.”
m.Paani’s retailer product – ‘Aapka Business Saathi’ or ‘A Partner in your Business’ – is a full suite solution enabling local shops to go online, digitise their consumer relationships, access business data and insights, and manage their business operations more effectively. Focused on the daily needs categories e.g. grocery, chemist, fresh fruits & vegetables, dairy and more – consumers now have their entire neighbourhood in the palm of their hand. They can discover their local shops, products and offers online – order online by creating a single shopping list across all their daily needs or shop directly online from their favourite local shops – in addition to enjoying an enhanced offline shopping experience via in-store features.
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