The Series A round was led by Asia Impact SA
The firm will use the investment to expand its operations across the country.
VilCart currently operates in 85,000 Kirana stores in 30,000 villages
Bengaluru-based VilCart, the rural-economy-focused technology startup, has raised USD 18 Million (INR 144 Crore) in a Series A funding round led by Asia Impact SA.
Nabventures Fund and Texterity Private Limited also participated in the round. Unitus Capital acted as the exclusive financial advisor to the company on the transaction. With the new investment, VilCart aims to expand its operations to the entire South India by the year 2024.
VilCart, was established in 2018 with a vision “future of India lies in its villages” by Prasanna Kumar and Amith S Mali. Since then, VilCart has revolutionized the rural unorganized retail industry with technology by providing quality products at a competitive price to every rural household with a best-in-class supply chain and logistic facilities.
In this process, VilCart has established numerous private labels to utilize the established supply chain network and provide quality products to the rural population.
The startup began with one Karnataka district and has since swiftly grown. Currently, VilCart has reached 85,000 Kirana stores in 30,000 villages, covering 29 districts in Karnataka and one in Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu respectively.
VilCart expanded its size by 2.6X to USD 25 Million in FY22, up from USD 9.6 Million in FY21. With the growth, the startup has helped rural youth and women on a large scale by providing them the much-needed job opportunities. The company also launched initiatives to support rural women entrepreneurs. Series A round will further aid in VilCart’s vision of helping rural businesses.
Christian Banno, Asia Impact SA, said, “We are keen of joining VilCart as it represents an important milestone for Asia Impact SA, that allows us to further progress towards the achievement of our vision to improve rural businesses and the quality of life in rural households in India.
VilCart focuses on helping and boosting the rural ecosystem, its excellent management team led by Prasanna Kumar, and the emphasis on technology make Vilcart the perfect partner for Asia Impact SA and give us confidence they will continue to effectively contribute to the sustainable growth journey of Rural India.”
Speaking at the occasion, Prasanna Kumar, Founder, VilCart, said, “We are delighted to have Asia Impact SA, Nabventures Fund, and Jiraaf (i.eTexterity) on board.
Strengthening the rural ecosystem is the need of the hour. VilCart aims to bridge the gap between rural consumers and the manufacturers/primary market by building a strong network. With the new investment, we aim to scale our operations to the entire South India.”
As Asia Impact SA joins the VilCart family, NABVENTURES Limited CEO Rajesh Ranjan stated, “Post our investment in Nov 2021, VilCart has grown fourfold and has added 50,000 new stores across South India. VilCart will use this funding to build on its portfolio of existing private-label brands, launch new products, geographic expansion and become Kirana’s preferred partner with a pan-India presence.”Apart from sourcing, logistics, technology, marketing, and branding partners of rural Kirana stores, VilCart offers a Local Language Mobile App for rural Kirana stores and consumers.
Utilizing the application’s AI/ML capabilities, the app helps Kirana store owners with better inventory management, and credit management, among other services.
About VilCart
