Singapore-based online grocery store RedMart raises $5.4M from Facebook co-founder & Lion Rock Capital, others

RedMart Pte Ltd, a Singapore-based startup that owns and operates the online grocery store RedMart.com has raised $5.4 million in funding, led by Facebook co-founder Eduardo Saverin. Other investors who participated in the round included Property Guru founders Steve Melhuish and Jani Rautiainen; JDFI's co-founder Meng Weng Wong; The Lo & Behold Group's founder Wee Teng Wen; and Lion Rock Capital. The funds will be invested in building fulfilment technology and infrastructure to support the startups' growth.

According to the company, the round was oversubscribed and brings RedMart's total funding to date to $10 million. It further mentions that this is a precursor to a larger Series B round, which it expects to close in the next five months. Prior to this round, RedMart had raised an undisclosed amount in its Series A funding in July last year. The round was led by Garena, a Singapore-based gaming firm, and saw participation from Skype co-founder Toivo Annus.

Other investors in the company include Golden Gate Ventures and East Ventures. In total, the company had raised $4.6 million (in Series A and three seed rounds) in funding prior to the new bridge round.

"We needed to increase our warehouse space and trucks quickly before the next round. So that's mainly what the funding is being used for—to build out infrastructure," said Roger Egan, co-founder and CEO, RedMart. "But we are also using it to build out some bleeding-edge order fulfilment technologies and delivery route management and optimisation technologies. When you're scaling up, it requires more automation and better processes and procedures to accommodate the orders," Egan said.

The Singapore-based startup was founded in 2011 by the trio of Vikram Rupani (CFO & COO), Rajesh Lingappa (CTO), and Egan. It offers competitive prices on a wide range of groceries and household essentials with the convenience of online ordering and home delivery seven days a week. As of now, the site is offering around 4,000 products across categories like food cupboard, beverages, alcohol, baby, health & beauty, household and pet care. The company operates its own fleet of delivery vans, and is currently offering free delivery for purchases above $59 (Rs 3,655).

"I believe that time-starved consumers will increasingly value convenience in purchasing their daily essentials. The logistics and technology platform the RedMart team is building extends far beyond selling groceries in Singapore," said Saverin.

Other investments in the space

Early this month, Mumbai-based MN&C Supply Links Retail Pvt Ltd, which owns and operates online super market LocalBanya.com, had raised  an undisclosed amount in Series A funding from Karmvir Avant Group, a real estate developer in Mumbai.

Around the same time, EkStop Shop Pvt Ltd, the company that owns and operates the online grocery store EkStop.com, raised an undisclosed amount in funding from Ronnie Screwvala's Unilazer Ventures Ltd. As part of the investment, Unilazer Ventures had picked up 25 per cent stake in the company.

Other players in the online grocery space in the country include AaramShop, BigBasket, ZopNow and MyGrahak.

(Edited by Joby Puthuparampil Johnson)