India-based hyperlocal grocery delivery service PepperTap has raised $36m in a series B round co-led by e-commerce company Snapdeal, Sequoia India and SAIF Partners, Hindu Business Line reported yesterday.
Beenext, a $60m fund backed by e-commerce firm Beenos, also took part in the round, as did investment firms Ru-Net and Jafco. PepperTap is in advanced discussions with additional backers and expects to close a $20m extension within weeks.
Founded in 2013, PepperTap enables consumers to order food from a local shop and have the products delivered within two hours. The company picks up the produce directly from the stores, rather than keeping its own inventory.
The service is currently available in 29 locations across India. PepperTap will use the money to increase its coverage to 75 cities by the end of the fiscal year, expanding its workforce to more than 5,000 in the process.
The round will also support technology development and supply chain management. It follows a $10m series A round featuring SAIF and Sequoia closed in April 2015, only a month after Sequoia had supplied $1.2m in seed funding.
Kunal Bahl, co-founder and chief executive of Snapdeal, said: “We look forward to working closely with PepperTap to make them very successful, leveraging the capabilities we have built in Snapdeal’s ecosystem.”