All of Reliance Retail’s investments in the now-defunct hyperlocal delivery business Dunzo have been formally wiped off. The conglomerate’s 78,923 equity shares of Dunzo, which were internally valued at INR 1,645 Cr in FY24, were worth nothing during the fiscal year under review, according to Reliance Industries Ltd.’s (RIL) FY25 annual report.
According to the report, the now-defunct business generated INR 1 Cr in operating revenue in FY25. This comes more than seven months after Reliance Retail, the biggest shareholder in the hyperlocal firm, wrote off its $200 million investment in it, according to various media reports.
Kabeer Biswas, the CEO and cofounder of Dunzo, left his position that same month to join Flipkart’s Minutes, a fast commerce startup.
Why Did Reliance Back Dunzo in 2022?
Three years have passed since Reliance led a $240 million round in Dunzo in January 2022, when the write-off occurred. The venture was marketed at the time as Reliance Retail’s attempt to get into the fast commerce race.
The agreement was also intended to improve the conglomerate’s omnichannel capabilities and allow hyperlocal logistics for Reliance Retail’s stores. In addition, Dunzo was supposed to assist JioMart’s merchant network with last-mile deliveries.
At the time of Dunzo’s closure of business operations, 26% of the company was held by Reliance Retail. Lightbox owned 10% of the startup, while Google India owned 19.3%. In 2014, Biswas, Ankur Aggarwal, Dalvir Suri, and Mukund Jha founded Dunzo, a platform that first catered to pick-and-drop services before branching out to grocery delivery.
Dunzo’s Financial Struggles and Competitive Pressures
Even though Dunzo has raised around $450 million in its career and accomplished several firsts, its tale took a sharp turn last year when it became apparent that the firm was losing millions of dollars due to very strong competition from players like Blinkit, Instamart, and Zepto.
In FY23, Dunzo’s overall revenue increased 3X YoY to INR 67.7 Cr, but its consolidated net loss expanded 4X YoY to INR 1,801 Cr. The startup made several unsuccessful pivots as funding dried up. After that, it struggled to continue operating and even had trouble finding a buyer. The startup eventually ceased operations.
Reliance Bets on AI for Future Growth with JioBrain
RIL also predicted in the annual report that AI would spur multi-decade growth in small steps. The company reaffirmed that it is creating an AI service platform under the JioBrain brand to provide a range of tools and platforms for businesses as part of its AI drive.
According to the firm, Jio will work with its international partners and use its knowledge of operations, software, data, networking, and infrastructure to allow the lowest AI inferencing cost in the world in India, enabling AI to be accessible everywhere for everyone.
Key Figures from RIL’s FY25 Annual Report
RIL further stated that its telecom subsidiary Reliance Jio is currently testing the AI platform for customer support, resource optimisation, and network planning and maintenance. According to the company, Jio Platforms, its digital arm, has filed more than 3,341 patents so far, including 1,654 in FY25, in the deeptech space.
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