Calling themselves Bharat ka WH-Smith, Yatrikart has raised $450K in a seed round from Shuru-Up’s Digital Platform and Artha Venture Fund. Yatrikart is India’s first tech-enabled transit retail chain, enabling micro-entrepreneurship by empowering hawkers & retailers at transit stations & creating a new retail format – Retailing on the go. Yatrikart aims to open 100+ new formats by 2023 and will utilize this investment to expand its infrastructure, improve technology, and hire talent.
The fastest-growing transit retail brand Yatrikart started its business operations in October 2021 and has witnessed tremendous growth since then. Today, Yatrikart has more than 25 stores & carts, serving millions of customers yearly at railway stations, bus & taxi stands, and highways. The stores and formats are tailored to meet the customers’ travel needs as the startup has become the trusted source for travel essentials.
Commenting on the investment, Team Shuru-Up,said, “We believe that it is very difficult to find a startup which solves a problem faced by each and every individual in the world. And after meeting the co-founders Gaurav Rana and Shivangee Sharma, it was a no-brainer to join them on their journey as they solve the problem of transit retail”.
Shuru-Up is a digital ecosystem that simplifies startup fundraising and provides investors with primary and secondary investment opportunities. The vision behind the digital ecosystem created by Shuru-Up is to help Indian startups reach their full potential and contribute to the country’s rapidly growing economy.
Excited about the progress, Shivangee Sharma, Co-Founder, Yatrikart, said, “After covid-19, the changing landscape of travelers’ needs has got us to focus on the real problem of meeting the demand and supply gap at transit depots. While solving this problem, we crafted our mission to empower the last mile entrepreneurs of India at transit stations & in trains while building a trusting brand for Indian travelers”.
Anirudh A Damani, Managing Partner, ArthaVenture Fund, said, “The retail on-the-go segment holds immense growth potential. However, Gaurav and Shivangee’s startup has introduced a method to the madness by streamlining an otherwise fragmented operation of standalone merchants and hawkers at transit hubs like metros, railways, highways, bus and taxi stands. Their tech-enabled proposition saves time while fulfilling the impulse needs of travelers.
We are excited about Yatrikart as it is the 2nd investment from the Artha Access program that focuses on the pre-seed funding segment through associations with various accelerator programs.”
Yatrikart addresses the challenge of unauthorized & illegal hawking and ensures that the passengers get authentic products during their journey. The startup empowers small businesses by helping merchants operate and grow their businesses. In addition, the startup offers channel partnerships to help small businesses get higher profit margins and foster growth. The startup is supporting its customers on their journeys with everything from A to Z travel needs.
The Angel Investors participated in this round were Ankit Kedia, Founder Capital A, Arjun Vediya, India Head Verlinvest, Rohit Chanana, Sarcha advisers, Akshay Chaturvedi, Founder Leverge edu, Vinay Singal, Founder Stage, Sumit kabra, Director RR global, Rajiv Mehta, Angel Investor, Kunal Singhal, Angel Investor, Vinod Sood, MD Hughes SystiqueCorporation, Deepak Agarwal, Bikaji Foods International Ltd, Jusminder Singh Gulati, Full stack capital.
Categories: Seed Funds
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