SaaS startup Peel-Works raises $5 mn in Series B round

Software-as-a-service and data analytics firm Peel-Works has raised $5 million in a Series B funding round led by venture capital firm Equanimity Ventures.

The round also saw participation from HDFC Bank, Schroder Adveq founder Bruno Raschle and existing investors Unilever Ventures, Chiratae Ventures and Inventus Capital India.

The company will use the capital to strengthen its retail management platform Taikee and expand operations, it said in a statement.

Taikee is the grocery business-to-business (B2B) e-commerce platform that enables retailers to discover brands at low prices. It is live in more than 16 cities with 20,000 retailers using the platform.

The startup said it will also use the funds to expand its footprint to 25 cities. It aims to get 100,000 retailers on board over the next six to 12 months. Peel-Works is looking to hit a gross merchandise value run rate of about $1 billion in 2019, the statement added.

“Taikee helps these retailers grow faster, retain their customers and improve their profitability. The platform delivers this by helping the retailer right-size his assortment, buy it cheaper, and adopt technology that makes it convenient for shoppers to transact with him,” said Sachin Chhabra, founder and CEO, Peel Works.

Operated by Peel-Works Pvt. Ltd, the company’s SaaS platform helps grocery stores buy inventory, sell their products, and deploy capital. The platform helps grocers reduce their operational costs by driving shoppers’ loyalty and optimising inventory.

Peel-Works was founded by in 2010 by Chhabra and Sandeep Lakhina. In 2012, Nidhi Ramachandran joined as co-founder while Lakhina left the company in 2013.

Prior to establishing Pee-Works, Chhabra, an alumnus of St Stephens College, was with Hindustan Unilever for 14 years, having begun his career in 1996. Ramachandran is an alumnus of Indian Business School (IBS).

It last raised an undisclosed amount in a funding round led by Unilever Ventures in October 2017.

Recent deals in similar segments:

• February 2019: Bengaluru-based daily tasks management app Dunzo, run by Dunzo Digital Pvt. Ltd, raised Rs 22.49 crore ($3.1 million) in its Series C funding round from early-stage venture capital firm Blume Ventures and other investors.
• February 2019: Fleetx.io, an intelligent fleet management and predictive analytics platform, raised an undisclosed amount in a pre-Series A round of funding led by venture capital firm India Quotient and dealmaking platform LetsVenture’s angel fund.
• Customer lifecycle management platform CleverTap raised $26 million (Rs 179.4 crore) in a Series B round of funding led by existing investor Sequoia Capital.