Exclusive: Online grocery marketplace AAGAAR shuts down

Delhi-based hyperlocal grocery delivery service AAGAAR.com, run by Asankhya Retail Pvt. Ltd, appears to have shut down its operations. Its website is no longer accessible and redirects the viewer to a temporary webpage.

It couldn't be immediately ascertained when exactly the startup had closed down its operations. Repeated attempts made by Techcircle to contact its founder Deepak Saharawat were unsuccessful.

AAGAAR had raised an undisclosed amount in angel funding from a group of investors in June 2015.

The startup was founded in November 2014 by Saharawat who had previously worked with Shoppers Stop and HyperCITY. AAGAAR provided fresh and daily essentials such as fruits and vegetables, groceries, beverages, personal care, dairy products to consumers at their doorstep.

It had started its operations in Gurgaon and was planning to expand to Delhi-NCR. The startup was also contemplating raising a follow-on funding round to help scale operations.

The e-grocery business is plagued with wafer-thin margins, high logistics costs, exponential customer acquisitions costs and fierce competition, and has witnessed a number of casualties recently. Earlier this week, Techcircle reported that GetNow.at, a Nagpur-based hyperlocal marketplace for groceries, electronics, mobiles, computers, home and office supplies, had closed its operations. The startup had also laid off eight employees in the process.

One of the biggest players in the segment, Peppertap, which raised funding from SAIF Partners, Sequoia Capital and Snapdeal, recently decided to shut down operations.

In February 2016, e-commerce venture Flipkart had shut down its grocery delivery app Nearby, five months after it was launched in Bangalore. Soon after, cab-hailing firm Ola pulled the plug on its hyperlocal grocery delivery app, Ola Store.

Like this report? Sign up for our daily newsletter to get our top reports.