Rural e-commerce platform VilCart raises $18 million in Series A

B2B rural e-commerce startup VilCart stated it has raised $18 million (Rs 144 crore) in a Collection A spherical led by Asia Impression SA. The tour additionally noticed the participation of Nabventures Fund and Texterity Pvt. Ltd.

The Bengaluru-based startup stated it goals to increase its operations to the entire of south India by 2024, launching new merchandise and supporting initiatives for rural girls entrepreneurs.

Based in 2018 by Prasanna Kumar and Amith S Mali, VilCart is a rural B2B e-commerce platform that connects farmer producer organizations (FPO), manufacturers, rural small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), producers to kirana shops positioned in villages. provide chain and logistics amenities.

Alongside the sourcing, logistics, expertise, advertising and branding companions of Rural Kirana shops, VilCart provides an area language cellular app for rural Kirana shops and customers. The app’s AI/ML capabilities help tenants with stock administration and credit score administration, amongst different providers.

The startup began with one district in Karnataka and has now grown to 85,000 Kirana shops in 30,000 villages masking 29 in Karnataka and a district in Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu respectively. VilCart elevated 2.6 occasions from $9.6 million (Rs 78 crore) in FY21 to $25 million (Rs 203 crore) in FY22.

Christian Banno of Asia Impression SA stated, “VilCart focuses on supporting and strengthening the agricultural ecosystem and the emphasis on expertise makes Vilcart the best associate for Asia Impression SA and offers us confidence that they’ll proceed to contribute to the expansion of rural India. ”

The fundraising by VilCart comes at a time when various tech startups centered on rural markets are attracting important consideration from institutional buyers.

In January, Bengaluru-based agricultural expertise firm Cropin Applied sciences Raised $13.7 million (Rs 113 crore) in a funding spherical involving Google and JSR Company, in addition to present buyers ABC World Asia and Chiratae Ventures.

DeHaat in December Raised $60 million in a Collection E financing spherical co-led by Hesa, established in June 2022 with present buyers Temasek Holdings of Singapore and Sofina Ventures of Belgium Raised $2.3 million (round Rs 17.7) in a pre-Collection A funding spherical led by Enterprise Catalysts.