The capital raised will be used to fund its central inventory needs to feed its network of Frendy Marts & Micro Kiranas in Tier 3+ towns of Gujarat.
New Delhi: Ahmedabad-based tech-enabled small format grocery chain Frendy has raised Rs 2 crore as working capital credit from UC Inclusive Credit (UCIC), a non-banking financial companies (NBFC) arm of Unitus Capital, a release by the company said on Tuesday.
The capital will be deployed to fund its central inventory needs to feed its network of Frendy marts & micro kiranas in tier 3 towns of Gujarat, the release added.
“As we aim to scale our business 4x, we intend to raise equity and expand our credit lines. Having a lending partner in UCIC adds additional operational & financial discipline which is always good for early-stage startups. We have achieved close to 40 annual turns of inventory at our central warehouse as we use our proprietary tech-enabled Auto Replenishment System (ARS) to restock our marts & serve the micro kiranas. Such high inventory turns allow us to finance our central inventory with a credit facility,” said Sameer Gandotra, founder & chief executive officer (CEO), Frendy.
Frendy was founded inof 2019 by Sameer Gandotra, an MBA from the Wharton School and serial entrepreneur, Harshad Joshi, a graduate of ISB, IRMA, and ex-Walmart & Metro Cash & Carry, and Gowrav Vishwakarma, a serial tech entrepreneur.
Frendy is building a network of modern neighbourhood grocery mini-marts that make daily shopping better for consumers in small towns and villages in India. Frendy’s marts are also digitally connected to a cluster of micro-kiranas (mom-and-pop stores) and their end customers, allowing Frendy to build a last-mile digital commerce bridge to serve a wider range of rural consumers. It currently operates 25 marts & 2000+ micro-kiranas, across rural Gujarat and it aims to expand its business to 100 Marts & 3,000 micro-kiranas in the next 12 months. The Company had a revenue of Rs 82 crore for FY23 and aims to double its sales in the next 12 months as the brand expands its geographical footprint.
