Google leads fresh funding for task management app Dunzo

Dunzo Digital Pvt. Ltd, which runs daily task management app Dunzo, has raised another $9.84 million (Rs 68.42 crore) in a fresh round of funding from new and existing investors.

According to Dunzo’s latest filings with the Ministry of Corporate Affairs, the company raised this sum as part of a larger round of Rs 80.34 crore.

Existing backer Google led the fund infusion with a contribution of Rs 34.58 crore. Patni Wealth Advisors, Blume Ventures, Alteria Capital and some other unidentified investors also participated in the round.

As per TechCircle estimates, Dunzo’s valuation now stands between $60 million and $65 million.

Email queries sent to Dunzo did not elicit a response till the time of filing this report.

The development comes after media reports said last month that the company was looking to close a funding round of $15-$20 million.

In February, it had raised $6.5 million (around Rs 46 crore) from a clutch of new and existing investors including Deep Kalra, the chairman of online travel services provider MakeMyTrip. Google had first invested in Dunzo in late 2017.

Dunzo was founded in 2015 by Kabeer Biswas, Ankur Aggarwal, Dalvir Suri and Mukund Jha. It is a chat-based task management app that allows users to create to-do lists. It fulfills tasks such as grocery and restaurant deliveries, instant local courier services and home services. The platform uses both artificial intelligence and human operators to offer its services.

The Dunzo app has been downloaded by more than 10 lakh users on Android, as per information on its Google Play store page. Dunzo is operational in Bengaluru, Pune, Gurugram, Hyderabad, Delhi and Chennai.

For the financial year 2017-18, Dunzo’s operating revenue declined to Rs 15.80 lakh from Rs 98.5 lakh the previous year, according to VCCEdge, the data research platform of Mosaic Digital, which operates TechCircle. Dunzo's costs increased to Rs 21 crore from Rs 11.79 crore. Consequently, net loss widened to Rs 21.94 crore from Rs 10.75 crore.

Earlier this month, a report in financial news website Moneycontrol said, citing an unnamed person in the know, that online restaurant discovery and food delivery platform Zomato was in advanced stages of discussions to acquire Dunzo.