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.
The website and mobile app of Dunzo, a hyperlocal delivery startup, are unavailable due to continuous issues. The message “{“error”:”Something went wrong.”} appears on its website. The message “Something doesn’t seem right” appears on the mobile app. The app does not presently allow new users to sign in. The software has been unavailable to users in several parts of the nation for a few days. The app and the website are reportedly having some “migration issues,” according to a media report, even though Dunzo has not made any public statements on the matter.
However, report further stated that the company might be going through a process called ‘App Migration’. The process of transferring software applications from one environment to another is known as app migration.
More Bad News for Denzo
All of Dunzo‘s staff have departed the startup, according to the media report. On January 9, a few workers also complained about their unpaid salary to the Bengaluru police station in Indira Nagar against cofounder Kabeer Biswas. According to the lawsuit, Dunzo has failed to pay the salaries of around 400 workers. According to various reports, Biswas is expected to speak with the investigating officer about the situation on January 14. Due to a lack of funds, Dunzo has repeatedly postponed staff salaries over the past 12 months. In addition to not paying salary for November 2024, it postponed paying salaries for June and July for several months.
Due to financial difficulties, Dunzo let go of several employees in 2023 and 2024, and a small number of people left the firm to work for other companies. The most recent development occurs just days after Biswas left Dunzo. He was the sole cofounder still working for the startup. Biswas will join “Flipkart Minutes” to oversee the operations of the e-commerce giant’s rapid commerce division.
Denzo Unable to Generate Investments
According to reports, Dunzo has made purchase offers to Reliance Retail, Flipkart, PhonePe, and Swiggy. Additionally, Reliance Retail wrote off its $200 million investment in Dunzo, according to various media reports. When Dunzo was first established in 2014, it provided pick-and-drop services. In 2021, it switched to fast commerce, and in 2022, Reliance Retail provided $240 million in capital.
In order to complete a settlement with Invoice Discounters, the company has asked the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) for more time. The underlying financial problems have not been addressed, even though this might provide a brief reprieve.
Some media outlets claim that Dunzo’s attorney informed the tribunal that the parties are sincere in their pursuit of settlement negotiations and close to finishing the terms of the agreement. Please give them two weeks. In the meantime, the corporation has barely paid half of its debt, according to the creditor’s attorney, who is disputing these assertions. Investors exit, boardroom chaos, and significant leadership changes at Dunzo have further compounded the company’s problems. Concerns regarding the startup’s future have been raised by the departure of important board members, including those from significant backers LightBox and Reliance Retail. The leadership gap is made worse by the departure of co-founders Dalvir Suri and Mukund Jha.
Kabeer Biswas is among some entrepreneurs in India who, with his friends, made the delivery of daily essentials quick and easy for us. Kabeer Biswas founded the delivery startup Dunzo in January 2015, headquartered in Bengaluru, Karnataka, India. Kabeer serves as the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) at Dunzo. Kabeer is the Co-founder of Dunzo along with three of its Co-founders, including Ankur Agarwal, Dalvir Suri, and Mukund Jha. They are broadening the service of quick commerce startups in top cities across India. According to the latest reports as of January 2025, Kabeer Biswas is preparing to step down from his role at Dunzo.
Know all about the personal and professional life of Kabeer Biswas, his education, success story, net worth, Dunzo’s net worth & more in the post ahead!
Kabeer was born in 1984. His father died while Kabeer was only 19 years old. His father left considerable wealth for him, which allowed him to experiment with various ideas and take risks without thinking of choosing a safe route. His mother knew the business left behind by his father. Hence, she was secure with Kabeer, not worrying about his mother’s well-being. Thus, Kabeer himself asserted that this is the reason he has no dependents and can formidably experiment on the ideas he took an interest in.
Kabeer Biswas – Education
Kabeer pursued a Bachelor of Electronics in Computers from the University of Mumbai (2000-2004). He later did a Master in Business Administration (MBA) from SVKM’s Narsee Monjee Institute of Management Studies (NMIMS).
Kabeer Biswas – Professional Life
Bharti Airtel Limited
Kabeer started his professional career as soon as he completed his MBA in 2007. He joined Bharti Airtel Limited in 2007 as a Rural NPD. After two years, he was promoted to the Social, Communities, and Location Based Services. He thus spent about three and half years working in this company, from June 2007 to October 2010.
Videocon Telecommunications Limited
He later worked for Videocon Telecommunications Limited in the New Product Development area. He worked there for almost three months, from October 2010 to December 2010.
Y2CF Digital Media Private Limited
Kabeer then worked for Y2CF Digital Media Private Limited in the Product area. He worked there for three years, from January 2011 to December 2013. He founded a company called Hoppr, which was acquired by Hike in 2014.
Kabeer Biswas, Ankur Agarwal, Dalvir Suri and Mukund Jha | Dunzo Founders
Kabeer started his local delivery set-up Dunzo from a small WhatsApp group. It eventually gained popularity and transformed into a hyperlocal mobile application service.
He believed that in the space of delivery and logistics, if all systems do not work on tech-based business, then at least customers who need such service should be served well. This thinking should be approached by companies, and they must think of gaining not only customers but valuable customers.
Thus, Kabeer thought of establishing a business that would help people who formerly needed delivery services. Dunzo renders its delivery services in top cities:
Kabeer, the Dunzo founder, started off with the hyperlocal delivery service Dunzo in 2015. It began delivering its services in some of Bengaluru’s most opulent areas like Indiranagar, Koramangala, and the central business district, aiming at making life easier for its users, abiding by the time-consuming tasks.
Dunzo provides its delivery services in packages, pick up and drop, online restaurant discovery, ordering online food, grocery, medicine, laundry, local couriers, and Bike taxis as well. The company receives ten lakh orders monthly.
Dunzo eventually became the first Indian tech company to receive funding from Google in 2017. Dunzo started providing a platform to local businesses. The company has also started food delivery services in direct competition with Swiggy and Zomato. It has become a favorite brand among Bengaluru’s digital-savvy and time-strapped elite. At one point, Biswas’s net worth was estimated to exceed INR 6,000 crore.
The Dunzo Journey
Kabeer Biswas – Funding Raised via Dunzo
Dunzo has raised a total funding of $700 Million till January 2022. Reliance Retail has funded $240 million in January 2022 with Vikas Poddar and five other investors.
Dunzo received its first round of funding from Blume Ventures Aspada Ventures, escorted by other investors such as the MD of Google India- Rajan Anandan and Sandipan Chattopadhyay, worth $650k in March 2016.
In December 2017, the existing ventures and investors provided investments to Dunzo in another round of funding. This was Google’s first direct investment in a startup in India.
In August 2019, Dunzo raised a funding of Rs. 34.56 crores by issuing debentures and Series C1 preference shares to one of the existing investors, Alteria Capital. Dunzo has raised around $498 Mn across multiple funding rounds till date.
Kabeer, the founder of Dunzo, declared last year that he and his company will be focusing on the local businesses that are offline. He is trying hard to make the local economy a lot more efficient. For example, once a local grocer’s shop was declining and about to shut down, then Dunzo, under the leadership of Kabeer, signed it up as one of its delivery merchants. The shop is now gaining profits more than ever, in several past years.
Kabeer has specifically designed Dunzo to use the data of its core delivery areas to make life easier for its users. It is through this service that they got to know that the well-to-do users were frequently searching for some specific foodstuffs, which led them to open a food delivery service as well. At that time, no one knew what his customers needed, neither the user nor the retailer.
Kabeer Biswas – Stepping Down from Dunzo
Kabeer Biswas is planning to step down, as reported by Moneycontrol on 2nd January 2025. He may soon join Flipkart Minutes as head of operations. The 10-year-old company has faced difficulties in the last few years and now operates in fewer areas. Biswas is the last co-founder to leave, following the earlier exits of Dalvir Suri, Mukund Jha, and Ankur Agarwal.
Conclusion
Kabeer Biswas’s main aim was to make a living by saving people’s time. Dunzo, a hyperlocal delivery startup lets users transfer or deliver their desired product or parcel from one corner of the city to the other corner with just a click.
Dunzo can change the way you move things and how you shop and lets you access your city like never before. An app that connects you to the nearest delivery partner who can make purchases pick up items from any store or restaurant in the city, and bring them to you.
FAQs
Who is Dunzo CEO?
Kabeer Biswas is the Co-Founder & CEO at Dunzo. But he is set to quit from his position and join Flipkart Minutes.
What is Kabeer Biswas education?
Kabeer pursued a Bachelor of Electronics in Computers at the University of Mumbai and later obtained an MBA from SVKM’s Narsee Monjee Institute of Management Studies.
Is Dunzo funded by Google?
Dunzo has raised $40 million in Series E funding from Google and existing investors, including Lightbox, Evolvence, Hana Financial Investment, LGT Lightstone Aspada, and Alteria Capital in January 2021. Earlier in September 2020, Dunzo received $ 28 million from Google, Lighrock, and other investors.
Why did Google invest in Dunzo?
Dunzo is reimagining how e-commerce and delivery could be done in India, thereby posing a challenge to Amazon and Walmart-owned Flipkart, as well as local food and grocery delivery startups such as Swiggy, Zomato, BigBasket, and Grofers.
Who is Dunzo owner?
Dunzo was founded by Kabeer Biswas, along with Co-founders Ankur Agarwal, Dalvir Suri, and Mukund Jha, in 2014.
What is the valuation of Dunzo?
Dunzo has a net worth of $744 Million as of 2023.
What is Kabeer Biswas age?
Dunzo founder, Kabeer Biswas was born in 1984. He is 40 years old.
Who are Dunzo founders?
Kabeer Biswas, Ankur Agarwal, Dalvir Suri and Mukund Jha are the founders of Dunzo.
According to a media outlet, Kabeer Biswas, a cofounder of the hyperlocal delivery service Dunzo, is expected to become the chief of operations at Flipkart Minutes. Following the departure of numerous other cofounders, including Mukund Jha, Dalvir Suri, and Ankur Agarwal, in recent months, Dunzo has been going through a difficult time. Reliance Retail, Dunzo’s biggest stakeholder, recently wiped off its $200 million stake in the business. Additionally, it was stated that due to its financial difficulties, Reliance Retail will not be purchasing Dunzo or investing more money in it.
Denzo Navigating Through Troubled Waters
Due to Dunzo‘s problems—such as a liquidity shortage and a retreat from fast commerce—Biswas began searching for possible purchase opportunities and reportedly valued Dunzo at about INR 300 Cr, or $25–30 million. Compared to the $770 million valuation of its most recent investment round, in which Reliance contributed funds, this represents a significant decrease. Over the past year and a half, these difficulties have caused employees’ salaries to be delayed. In addition, the business has looked into possible buyout discussions with Tata’s BigBasket and Swiggy, although the conversations most likely failed. Reliance Retail looked into the idea of purchasing Dunzo at a much lower price earlier this year. Notably, Biswas told staff members in July that major investors, such as Reliance Retail, had promised to contribute more money to the business. This funding, though, never materialised.
In 2014, Dunzo began as a WhatsApp group and has now raised nearly $400 million from investors including Reliance, Google, Blume Ventures, Lightrock, and additional companies. Even though it developed into a strong hyperlocal competitor that faced off against Swiggy Instamart, Tata BigBasket, and Blinkit, which is owned by Zomato, the company suffered from excessive capital burn and a more competitive environment.
With Biswas, Flipkart Miniutes Likely Gain an Edge
Having spent more than ten years in the industry, even before rapid delivery became a popular trend just a few months ago, Biswas’s leadership of Flipkart Minutes is likely to give the Walmart-owned company an advantage over other major players in quick commerce, including Zomato-owned Blinkit, Swiggy Instamart, Zepto, Tata BigBasket, and others. Given that Flipkart Minutes launched just in August 2024—many months later than the others—and that it still has some catching up to do, this is particularly important.
Hemant Badri, Flipkart’s senior vice president (SVP), is probably going to collaborate closely with Biswas. In April 2022, this development first appeared in the media that Badri had been given more responsibility as the leader of Flipkart’s rapid commerce initiative. Badri is the head of supply chain for the e-commerce giant Flipkart, where he has worked for more than three years.
According to many news sources, Reliance Retail, the biggest shareholder in the struggling hyperlocal firm Dunzo, has wiped off its $200 million investment in the business. Following the company’s liquidity crunch and withdrawal from rapid commerce during the last 24 months, Reliance is also not engaged in any discussions to invest in Dunzo or buy it in a distressed sale. Kabeer Biswas, the CEO and cofounder of Dunzo, is currently spearheading negotiations with family offices and wealthy individuals for an acquisition deal that would value the business at INR 300 Cr ($25–$30 million).
Biswas has received assurances from Reliance that they will help him save Dunzo. However, they have no interest in purchasing Dunzo. Two to three years prior, Biswas had rejected their buyout bid, which sought to acquire the hyperlocal business at a valuation close to unicorn. However, according to a media report, Reliance had no interest in Dunzo at all as speedy commerce companies entered the market and Dunzo’s failure to expand beyond a few locations.
Reliance Executives and Other Investors Stepping Down
In 2023, key executives Ashwin Khagiwala and Rajendra Kamath of Reliance Retail, as well as representatives from Lightrock and Lightbox, among other investors, resigned from Dunzo‘s board. The rumoured $30 million price tag for the company’s acquisition would represent a huge decrease from the $770 million Dunzo demanded in its most recent investment round, when Reliance provided the funding. According to reports, Biswas has also discussed a buyout with Flipkart, Swiggy, Tata Group, and Zomato but has not been successful. According to sources, Dunzo has closed in other cities but is still active in some areas of Bengaluru. At the moment, the business continues to operate according to its previous strategy of linking internet customers with nearby merchants.
According to reports earlier this week, Biswas has informed investors of his intention to leave the company. The CEO plans to leave after completing any possible acquisition agreement. Reliance Retail contributed $200 million to Dunzo’s $240 million fundraising round in January 2022. Reliance Retail made its biggest investment in the Indian startup scene with this venture. The acquisition of edtech firm Embibe for INR 1,340 Cr, Clovia for INR 950 Cr, and NetMeds for INR 620 Cr are some of Reliance Industries’ other noteworthy investments. It was considered a sort of strategic investment at the time. Reliance and Dunzo planned to collaborate, with the former facilitating hyperlocal logistics for JioMart and Reliance’s network of retail locations.
The Reason for the Downfall
By 2022, the quick commerce game had altered, even if Dunzo had made it through the busy cycle and hyperlocal boom of 2015. Dunzo’s model was feeling dated, and the quick commerce sector started sprawling its nexus. In an attempt to compete with Blinkit, Instamart, and Zepto, the business started Dunzo Daily, but it was unable to grow outside of Bengaluru, Mumbai, and Delhi. Although it is evident in retrospect that the $240 million investment was insufficient to capitalise on the swift business opportunity, Zepto’s explosive growth brought a third competitor to the market, joining Zomato’s Blinkit and Swiggy-owned Instamart. Just like Zepto, Dunzo was unable to take advantage of this chance. Reliance Retail wants to investigate the rapid commerce possibilities with JioMart in light of Dunzo’s issues. Additionally, Dunzo’s financial condition has deteriorated over the last two years, resulting in significant budget cuts, a long list of unpaid invoices to suppliers, and the departure of founders and important executives.
Amid a severe liquidity constraint, the domestic quick-grocery delivery service Dunzo is reportedly laying off at least “150-200” additional staff. The company is planning to raise $35 million in capital from existing supporters such as Reliance Industries and Google in addition to new investors. There have been various reports that indicate that Dunzo is likely to reduce its employment by approximately thirty to forty percent or more.
There have been reports that the corporation has informed the affected employees that they will receive their complete and final settlements in January. A brief meeting was held to officially tell the staff members of the most recent round of layoffs. Between the two waves of job cuts that have taken place so far this year, the startup has already terminated approximately 400 employees.
Delay in Salaries
In a continuous shortage of funds, Dunzo decided to postpone the payment of salaries to its staff members for June and July until November.
Kabeer Biswas, the co-founder and CEO of the business, has stated that the company may also consider closing its office in Bengaluru to save expenses. According to reports, Biswas informed the staff that their outstanding payouts for June and July will now be cleared in November.
Earlier, Dunzo postponed the payment of salary until the first week of October because it was unable to raise sufficient funds. Additionally, it had committed to paying employees a 12% annual interest rate on the salary component that it had withheld from June. A total of around $300 million has been brought in by the company since the beginning of 2022, bringing the total amount raised to nearly $500 million.
About Dunzo
Dunzo is an Indian on-demand delivery service that focuses on providing local food. With low delivery prices, it delivers anything and everything as needed. If a person happens to leave some important documents at home, Dunzo can deliver them to his workplace. Apart from that, Dunzo can go shopping for individuals if they are ever in a jam and can’t make it to the mall to buy a t-shirt.
There are several eateries, apparel boutiques, and general merchandise establishments that Dunzo has partnered with. At this time, it is offering its services in Bengaluru, Delhi, Gurugram, Pune, Chennai, Mumbai, Jaipur, Noida, and Hyderabad. Startup Dunzo provides a hyper-local demand delivery service; its parent business is Dunzo Digital Private Limited. It is registered with the Registrar of Companies in Bangalore, where it was established on July 8th, 2014 through incorporation.
India’s leading digital commerce entity Flipkart is working to venture into the fast-paced world of quick commerce to meet the burgeoning demand for rapid delivery of everyday essentials.
Flipkart has recently unveiled its latest initiative of same-day delivery service now available in 20 major Indian cities.
This strategic move underscores Flipkart’s unwavering dedication to elevating customer satisfaction, and convenience and to revolutionize the eCommerce landscape.
“We are committed to meeting evolving customer expectations and delivering excellence in value, selection, and speed, with more initiatives expected on this front in the coming months,” Walmart-backed Flipkart said in a statement.
This new initiative of same-day delivery will be for customers across cities including Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Bhubaneshwar, Coimbatore, Chennai, Delhi, Guwahati, Hyderabad, Indore, Jaipur, Kolkata, Ludhiana, Lucknow, Mumbai, Nagpur, Pune, Patna, Raipur, Siliguri and Vijayawada.
It would cover products like mobiles, essential items, electronics, home appliances, fashion, books, and lifestyle goods. The customers will get their products delivered before midnight if they place their orders by 1 pm without any extra charge.
Flipkart’s introduction of same-day delivery service represents a significant advancement in the Indian eCommerce market.
“We have invested in cutting-edge technologies, leveraged data analytics, and harnessed insights on demand patterns to ensure that we are well-equipped to anticipate and fulfill demand the very same day. I must acknowledge the hard work and dedication of our teams who have tirelessly contributed to making this vision a reality,” said Hemant Badri, Senior Vice President, Head of Supply Chain, Customer Experience & ReCommerce Business, Flipkart Group.
In the past year, quick commerce has surged into a billion-dollar industry with platforms like Blinkit, Zepto, and Swiggy Instamart poised to exceed USD 1 billion in revenue in the financial year 2023-24.
The surge in quick commerce has captured Flipkart’s interest, prompting the eCommerce giant to enhance its emphasis on the grocery sector.
As quick commerce constitutes approximately 40% of online grocery delivery, it is increasingly fueling growth. Flipkart’s renewed focus on grocery aligns with a broader transition away from conventional eCommerce models centered on sales and discounts.
As of now, these apps are providing quick commerce to consumers in major Indian cities:
Blinkit
Swiggy Instamart
Zepto
Started operations in
January 2022
August 2020
April 2021
Revenue as of FY 2023 (in Rs crore)
724
3221
2024
Revenue as of FY 2022 (in Rs crore)
236
2036
142
Funds raised for quick commerce (in U.S.$ million) US$ 1 mn = Rs 8.2 cr
569
700
361
Current market share (in %)
40%
37-39%
20%
It’s essential to acknowledge how its rivals have also expanded into quick commerce to meet evolving customer demands.
Here’s how some of Flipkart’s competitors have ventured into quick commerce:
Amazon India
Amazon has been a key player in the Indian eCommerce sector, and it has also delved into quick commerce to enhance its delivery capabilities. The company offers Amazon Prime Now, which provides ultra-fast delivery of essentials, groceries, electronics, and more within a few hours.
Reliance Retail
Reliance Retail, through its digital arm JioMart, has been rapidly expanding its presence in the e-commerce space. Leveraging Reliance’s extensive network of physical stores and warehouses, JioMart offers quick delivery of groceries, household essentials, and other daily items.
BigBasket
As a leading online grocery platform in India, BigBasket has capitalized on the growing demand for quick delivery of essential items. The company offers express delivery services for groceries and household essentials, ensuring that customers receive their orders within a few hours. BigBasket has the quick commerce feature BB Now too to get groceries delivered in 15-30 minutes.
Blinkit
Grofers now Blinkit has rebranded itself to reflect its commitment to rapid delivery. With its extensive network of local partners and warehouses, Blinkit ensures that customers receive orders within a few minutes, making grocery shopping seamless.
Blinkit has begun selling home appliances, puja essentials, Eid special offerings like prayer mats, thobe kurte, ‘sehri’ and ‘iftar’ needs, ‘Holi’ needs, sweets, colors, thandai, bakery items, meats, seafood, cosmetics, mobiles and accessories, electronics, baby care products and much more.
Swiggy and Zomato
While primarily known for their food delivery services, Swiggy and Zomato have also entered the quick commerce space by offering delivery of groceries, medicines, and other essential items.
Zepto
Zepto is also the name of a quick commerce platform that enables businesses to offer fast delivery services for groceries, bakery products, kitchen essentials, paan corner (betel leaf), tobacco, health and hygiene, toiletries, clothing, and other essentials. Zepto provides tools and infrastructure to facilitate within minutes delivery of goods to customers’ doorsteps.
Dunzo
Dunzo has become synonymous with hyperlocal delivery, with its Daily service taking it a step further by guaranteeing delivery within 19 minutes. From groceries to medicines to food from nearby localities to letters to clothes from the nearest boutique, Dunzo Daily fulfills all your daily needs with lightning speed.
While Flipkart maintains a strong foothold in the market, achieving revenue growth poses a continual challenge. With the emergence of competitors such as Zepto and Blinkit, there is a critical need for Flipkart to establish itself within the quick commerce sector.
As per media reports, Flipkart is also weighing options to expand into quick commerce with the introduction of dark stores. Dark stores are like mini warehouses designed for online orders.
Flipkart is also planning to buy Dunzo Daily. Despite having raised approximately USD 500 million in funding, Dunzo has struggled to secure additional investment and meet its staff payroll.
The hyperlocal delivery company has lost ground to newer competitors like Zepto, Swiggy, and Zomato’s Blinkit, leading to a drop in its market position.
Flipkart, valued at over USD 32 billion, is considering buying Dunzo, known for its local delivery skills. This move could be smart, but talks might take a while because Dunzo has ties to Reliance Retail, its main investor owning a 26% share.
Flipkart wants to be careful about what it buys, especially considering Dunzo’s connections, according to an article published by Business Insights Now on February 23.
The prospects of quick commerce, including Flipkart’s role, are exceptionally promising, driven by evolving consumer preferences, technological advancements, and market dynamics.
Flipkart, along with other quick commerce platforms, will capitalize on increasing smartphone penetration, internet connectivity, and digital payment systems to broaden its reach across diverse demographics and geographic regions.
By 2028, it is anticipated that the number of users in the quick commerce market in India will reach 56.4 million users. The user penetration rate, which currently stands at 1.8% in 2024, is projected to rise to 3.8% by 2028.
Meanwhile, the quick commerce market in India is anticipated to reach a revenue of USD 3.3 billion in 2024, with a projected compound annual growth rate (CAGR 2024-2028) of 27.42%. This growth trajectory is expected to propel the market volume to USD 8.8 billion by 2028.
Revenue of Quick Commerce Market in India
Conclusion
In summary, Flipkart’s expansion of its same-day delivery service epitomizes its dedication to setting new benchmarks of excellence in the eCommerce arena.
With a focus on speed, convenience, and customer satisfaction, Flipkart reaffirms its position as a trailblazer in India’s digital commerce revolution.
As the quick commerce market continues to evolve and expand, Flipkart’s strategic initiatives and dedication to customer satisfaction will shape its trajectory in the years to come.
The future holds endless possibilities, and Flipkart stands ready to embrace the opportunities that lie ahead, driving forward the evolution of online retail.
“Many believe Amazon and Walmart-owned Flipkart will continue to dominate the future of Indian eCommerce. In my humble opinion, I would not bet against the hometown teams at Zepto and Zomato,” said a LinkedIn post by Paul Hudson, Founder and CIO, of Glade Brook Capital.
Glade Brook Capital, which supported Zepto in Mumbai last year, also invested in Zomato’s parent company, Blinkit, back in 2019.
FAQs
In how many cities will Flipkart provide the same-day delivery service?
Flipkart will provide same-day delivery service in 20 major Indian cities including Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Bhubaneshwar, Coimbatore, Chennai, Delhi, Guwahati, Hyderabad, Indore, Jaipur, Kolkata, Ludhiana, Lucknow, Mumbai, Nagpur, Pune, Patna, Raipur, Siliguri and Vijayawada.
What will be the revenue of the quick commerce market in India in 2024?
The quick commerce market in India is anticipated to reach a revenue of USD 3.3 billion in 2024, with a projected compound annual growth rate (CAGR 2024-2028) of 27.42%. This growth trajectory is expected to propel the market volume to USD 8.8 billion by 2028.
Who are the competitors of Flipkart in the field of quick commerce?
The competitors of Flipkart in quick commerce include Dunzo, Amazon India, Reliance Retail, BigBasket, Blinkit, Zepto, Zomato, and Swiggy.
‘Dunzo karle!’ has now become a common phrase when it comes to delivering groceries and packages. How many companies can claim to have become synonymous with the products or services they offer? Bangalore-based fast delivery app Dunzo’s journey has been a rollercoaster ride like no other. Even now, Dunzo finds itself in the news for all the wrong reasons—layoffs and board members exiting. All eyes are now glued to this startup starlet’s next move; some are even secretly hoping that it could rise from the ashes like a phoenix!
In this article, we revisit Dunzo’s incredible story and explore what lies ahead for this unicorn startup.
Dunzo’s incredible story has a lot to do with its co-founder and CEO, Kabeer Biswas. Biswas was idling and doing nothing much after a stint at Airtel and a few startup ventures later. In 2015, he casually asked three of his friends on WhatsApp what they needed for the day while he ran from store to store to fulfill them. In three months, his customers had grown to 100 through positive word of mouth!
Soon after, Biswas and his team scaled up operations in several cities and registered blistering growth.
It even caught the eye of the big daddies of business across the globe. Reliance Retail picked up a 25.8% stake in the company, making it Dunzo’s single largest stakeholder. Meanwhile, Google chose Dunzo as its first direct investment in India. At present, Google is the second-largest stakeholder, at under 20%.
In its first year of operations, Dunzo dodged the typical startup obstacles, just like one of its delivery boys zigzagging on his bike, by clocking revenues of ₹0.8 crore. Since then, revenues have spiked to ₹67.7 crore in 2022.
Dunzo’s Revenue Growth from 2018 to 2022
Dunzo follows a hyperlocal model of business wherein the demands of the customer are sourced through local shops and on its app.
Quick commerce companies promise door-to-door delivery of essential grocery items at the doorstep of the consumer “quickly”. In Dunzo’s case, this was 19 minutes, to be precise. The COVID-19 pandemic further helped bolster Dunzo’s image. The pandemic elevated the Quick Commerce segment players as saviors. Millions of people stuck indoors were at the mercy of food delivery companies such as Dunzo for essential services.
In a market that was already dominated by delivery giants like Swiggy and Zomato, putting a foot in this sector would mean deep discounts and free deliveries to attract customers. Dunzo had officially bitten the quick commerce bullet. Dunzo’s losses were too huge to be ignored, at ₹464 crore in 2022, around two times what they were a year ago.
“Our best cities generate 14–15% of gross margins. We take that cash, literally a couple of crores a month, and plough it back into our new cities, where we still need to lose money for delivery because we don’t have enough order volume for the delivery cost to drop. But as the (volume) grows, the cost of delivery will drop, and it will start showing the economics that are showing in our most mature cities,” Biswas said in another media interview.
The cash being pumped into Dunzo from its investors didn’t help either.
Since its inception, Dunzo has already raised a massive ₹3,251 crore, according to data researcher Private Circle. This has been done through 12 rounds of funding.
With the world returning to normalcy after the pandemic, there has been a deep correction in the demand surge that Quick Commerce players experienced a few years ago. This has hit hyper-local players below the belt.
The freebies that Dunzo offered came back to bite Dunzo, and its business model had to be restructured. According to a report on Entrackr, Dunzo was losing ₹240 on each of its orders. The speed delivery app was left with no choice but to increase its speed delivery charges and slap additional handling charges onto the customer.
The backbone of Dunzo was its happy customers, who loved the delivery system and the user interface. Soon, there were signs of cracks in this backbone too, as many were not happy with the additional costs.
According to a survey conducted by market research firm Recogn in August–September 2021, only 11% of hyperlocal consumers prefer to use Dunzo. This is just a slice of the pie dominated by Zomato, which has 50% of consumer loyalty, followed by Swiggy at 35%.
Biswas had learned his lesson the hard way. In a media interview two years ago, Biswas said, “We understand why we are spending money, and we have been at fault. We have gotten lucky. We have made mistakes in which money got spent incorrectly, and I very humbly accept the fact that our investors were very nice enough to go ahead and say, haa galti ho gaya iss time (you made a mistake this time), but don’t go ahead and do this mistake again.”
Layoffs and Exits
In the last few months, Dunzo has been on a massive organizational rejig, which may well be a planned one.
According to media reports, Dunzo has laid off 30% of its employees since its fund infusion in April and has deferred salaries as well. Dunzo is shutting down its dark stores nationwide; from 250, it is now less than 10. Dark stores are retail distribution centers that are not open to the public and cater solely to online shoppers.
Another report also talked about Dunzo’s plans to withdraw from its direct-to-consumer model and focus on its merchants, explaining why it was shutting down its dark stores.
In an interview with CNBC-TV18 in February this year, Biswas hinted at layoffs. “This year, there might be changes in the way we have designed the organization and how we have organized the company. Last year, we were organized around just plain growth. But this year onwards, I think because we have found a really large market, a large part of the organization looks at scalable business models, and a smaller one goes ahead and looks at growth. So when you go ahead and do that reorganization, there could be some changes that could happen.” Biswas has said.
Dunzo is also hoping for another round of fund infusions from its investors to the tune of around $20 million, which would pump some oxygen into the beleaguered company. However, it has been unable to garner funds due to valuation disagreements.
However, sirens have now started blaring, with co-founder Dalvir Suri exiting the board a few weeks ago. The latest to join the list of exitees is Head of Finance Sudarshan N, amid reports of another co-founder, Subhas Jha, also quitting.
The spate of bad news seemed to continue for the delivery company as board members Vaidhehi Ravindran from Lightrock and Rajendra Kamath and Ashwin Khasgiwala from Reliance Retail too seemed to have stepped down from the board, according to a newspaper report. The report further said that the members might resume the board once the company locks in another round of funding. The investors seemed to have shown Dunzo ‘the hand’ as far as additional funding.
Conclusion
Given its financial situation, Dunzo has little choice but to rejig its operations and look at other viable options that can keep the company afloat.
The layoffs could help the company with its cash crunch to some extent. Meanwhile, the company has now reportedly shifted focus to Dunzo Merchant Services, its direct business-to-business delivery vertical.
However, time is running short for Dunzo, as its investors would want to buy out the company at lower valuations, in case of irreparable damage. Reliance Retail has a track record when it comes to acquiring companies through distress sales. For instance, furniture retailer Urban Ladder and milk and grocery retailer Milk Basket that it acquired in 2020 and 2022 respectively.
A lot will depend on Biswas’ leadership and how he navigates the company through these bumpy roads. Just like its delivery boys, this time around, Dunzo will have to ensure it delivers its worth on time or succumb to overbearing investors.
FAQs
What exactly does Dunzo do?
Dunzo is an on-demand delivery service operating in India. This company offers a wide range of items and services for delivery, catering to a variety of needs, all at competitive delivery rates.
Who are the founders of Dunzo?
Kabeer Biswas, Ankur Agarwal, Dalvir Suri, and Mukund Jha are the co-founders of Dunzo.
Company Profile is an initiative by StartupTalky to publish verified information on different startups and organizations.
We yearn to enjoy hassle-free lives and smartphones have a major role to play in achieving this dream. Mobile apps have given us the kind of freedom and the opportunity to leverage the same, which was hard to imagine even a decade back. Product delivery is one such thing that has been streamlined with the radical innovations in mobile apps. However, pick-and-drop services in India were rather expensive, chaotic, and troublesome, dominated by unorganized players until Dunzo came up with its promising delivery services at nominal charges.
Founded in 2015, Dunzo has been a blessing for many out there when it comes to delivery-related tasks.
The kind of features Dunzo offers will indeed make you slouch on your couch. With thousands of positive reviews and admiration from investors, Dunzo is in the process of creating an impact.
Read on to find out more about Dunzo’s Startup Story, Founders and Team, Business Model, Revenue Model, Funding and Investors, Growth, Logo,Tagline, Competitors, Challenges, and more.
Dunzo is a hyper-local on-demand delivery service in India. It delivers anything and everything as and when needed with minimum delivery charges. For instance, if you forget some documents at home, Dunzo can get them to your office. Besides, if you are in a situation where you would like to buy a t-shirt from a mall but are not in a position to go there and purchase it, Dunzo will get it for you.
Dunzo also has tie-ups with some restaurants, clothing stores, and a few general stores as well. It is currently providing services in the following cities – Bengaluru, Delhi, Gurugram, Pune, Chennai, Mumbai, Jaipur, Noida and Hyderabad. Dunzo is helpful for people who do not want to go out, cannot go out for some reason, and want to buy or send over some product/item.
Dunzo Digital Private Limited is the parent company of the hyper-local demand delivery service startup Dunzo. It was incorporated on July 8th, 2014, and is registered at the Registrar of Companies, Bangalore.
Dunzo – Founders/Owners and Team
Kabeer Biswas, Ankur Agarwal, Dalvir Suri, and Mukund Jha are the founders of Dunzo.
Kabeer Biswas
Kabeer Biswas ideated Dunzo. At the age of 28, he decided to save people’s time and initiated the plans for Dunzo. He is an engineer who graduated from Mumbai University and completed his Master’s at the Narsee Monjee Institute of Management in Mumbai. In 2007, he started working with Airtel as a product and sales manager. Kabeer subsequently served in the New Product Development and the Product divisions of Y2CF Digital Media and Videocon Telecommunications respectively before founding Dunzo. Kabeer is currently appointed as the CEO of Dunzo.
Co-Founders of Dunzo
Ankur Agarwal
Ankur Agarwal, a computer science graduate from IIT Roorkee, is the co-founder of Dunzo. Ankur worked with the third co-founder Mukund Jha at Google and the duo also started an HR tech company named ‘Filter‘.
Mukund Jha
Mukund Jha is the Co-founder and CTO of Dunzo. After completing his BTech., Computer Science from Motilal Nehru National Institute of Technology, Jha pursued his Master’s in Computer Science from Columbia University, where he also served as a research assistant before moving on to join Google as a software engineer. He served as a software engineer for a little less than 3 years before founding Wisdom.ly and Habet, which he founded in 2013 and 2014. Dunzo was the third company that he co-founded with Ankur, Kabeer, and Dalvir in 2015.
Dalvir Suri
Dalvir Suri was another co-founder of Dunzo and is a BE in Information Technology graduate from the Sardar Patel Institute of Technology at Mumbai University. Dalvir had previously worked at IBM as an application developer and a security and privacy consultant. Next, he went on to be the Head of Operations and Delivery at Cybrilla Technologies before co-founding Dunzo in May 2015.
Dalvir Suri left the company on October 2, 2023, amid financial strain and layoffs, according to numerous sources familiar with the development.
Dunzo – Startup Story
Kabeer Biswas got bored in six months after shifting to Bengaluru. He decided to test a new business idea based on a self-completing, to-do-list product. This was the core idea behind Dunzo. His small room in a duplex became the headquarters of Dunzo. He then started spreading the word about the concept to his friends, which began to spread fast. Kabeer soon started running errands for people on bikes and completed deliveries all by himself. People dropped a message on his WhatsApp number and he ensured their task was done.
To help him in this initiative, he hired a few people from an NGO on a part-time basis. This team completed 70 deliveries in just one day in June 2015. This gave Dunzo a popularity boost and in the next three months, the startup received its first major investment. Due to the surge in demand, the WhatsApp-based business and service were transformed into an app in 2016. Other co-founders stepped in and made the Dunzo app a huge success.
Dunzo- Startups in India | Startup Story
Dunzo – Mission and Vision
Dunzo’s mission is “to be the logistics layer of every city.” The vision of the company is to expand all across the country and emerge as the go-to delivery service provider of each of the cities.
Dunzo – Name, Tagline, and Logo
Dunzo is a slang abbreviation that refers to ‘do, over, and finished’. The company kept the name Dunzo to finish the work that people had pending or wanted to delegate. The idea behind the logo and the brand is to be quick, reliable, and bold. Dunzo is about being constantly on the move.
“Just Dunzo it!” says the Dunzo tagline.
Dunzo Logo
Dunzo – Business Model and Revenue Model
Dunzofunctions through an app and a website. It provides on-demand concierge services in the hyper-local market. Dunzo offers many features under one roof, i.e., its app suffices for all possible needs. Home groceries, food, medicines, pet supplies, health and wellness, gifts, bike rides, pick and drop, laundry delivery, and various other categories/services are provided by Dunzo.
Dunzo works through a data-driven platform that connects a delivery person to the nearest user. The activity of this person can be tracked throughout the delivery. When there are any purchases to be made, the users can even use the chatbox, send relevant images of the specific product, and communicate accordingly. Dunzo also provides Dunzo cash and other digital payment options. Dunzo uses Artificial Intelligence with its platform to give users a satisfactory and smooth experience.
Dunzo – Growth and Revenue
Initially starting in 2015 on Whatsapp, when the users typed their needs and Dunzo used to deliver the same promptly, to now, when Dunzo is hailed as an all-in-one 24X7 delivery ecosystem to significantly deliver anything and everything within the city, the growth is right in front of us. Furthermore, it is important to note that Dunzo has its headquarters in Bengaluru and is now serviceable in 8+ cities in India, which entered Chennai in 2018 after starting its operations in Hyderabad in the same year.
Dunzo Daily
The company has last launched its new dark store named Dunzo Daily, which started in Bengaluru and claims to be designed as a grocery delivery service. As per the recent updates, Dunzo Daily has also been launched in Pune in February 2022 and will have its stores set up in over 10 Indian cities during the first half of 2022. Dunzo Daily has entered Mumbai, as per reports dated April 7, 2022, Dunzo’s service will also operate in the satellite towns of Navi Mumbai and Thane. This makes Dunzo Daily operable in 4 cities – Bengaluru, Chennai, Mumbai and, Pune, and is aiming to be launched in Hyderabad and Delhi NCR later in April 2022.
The fresh fruits and vegetable delivery service arm of Dunzo is now aiming to have 200 mini-warehouses, have 30,000+ delivery partners, and have set a target of completing 2 lakh orders daily by June 2022.
The word “Dunzo” has grown from just the name of a startup to a verb in the real world, where people prefer to just dunzo things.
Here’s a glance at the growth highlights of Dunzo:
The company is spread across 9 of India’s Cities
Dunzo is backed by none other than Google and Reliance Retail
The company also has a bike taxi service in Gurugram
Dunzo boasts of a whopping 40X growth in the last 2 years, as reported in March 2021
Google-backed Dunzo scaled its revenue by 1.6X in FY21 and has prominently reduced its expenses by 43%
Dunzo fulfilled 1 million orders monthly.
It has acquired 30,000+ merchants.
The company has 40,000 delivery partners
Dunzo Digital as part of the Drone Vaccine Delivery Initiative in Telangana
Dunzo Digital has currently been called upon along with Skye Air, a part of the Dunzo MedAir consortium for the Government of Telangana’s ‘Medicines from the Sky’ project to enable faster and more efficient healthcare logistics. Soon after, permission was granted to the Telangana government to use drones within the visual line of sight (VLOS) for the experimental delivery of COVID-19 vaccines from the Ministry of Civil Aviation (MoCA) for one year, the state government tied up with Dunzo Digital.
The trials of the delivery of the vaccines are scheduled to begin on September 20, 2021, and will start from Vikarabad, Telangana, as per the reports dated September 18, 2021. They are expected to continue till September 25, 2021. The Dunzo Digital and Skye Air duo will demonstrate numerous healthcare logistics-related use cases as part of the trials.
Financials
Dunzo Financials
Dunzo Financials
FY23
FY22
Operating Revenue
Rs 226 crore
Rs 54 crore
Total Expenses
Rs 2,054 crore
Rs 532 crore
Profit/Loss
Loss of Rs 1,801 crore
Loss of Rs 464 crore
Expenses Breakdown
The company’s total expenses in FY22 were Rs 532 crore , and in FY23 it is Rs 2,054 crore.
EBITDA
The company’s EBITDA margin declined from -643% to -677% during FY22 and FY23, a symptom of considerable operating losses. Due to rising costs, the expenses per unit of operational revenue went from Rs 9.85 to Rs 9.09.
FY22- FY23
FY22
FY23
EBITDA Margin
-643%
-677%
Expenses/Rs of operation revenue
Rs 9.85
Rs 9.09
ROCE
-32%
–
Dunzo – Funding and Investors
Dunzo has raised a total funding of $476 Million in over 19 rounds of funding. Dunzo raised $75 million from a funding round led by Google on April 6, 2023.
Reliance Retail is the major shareholder in Dunzo with a 25.8% stake. Google, in contrast, owns a somewhat lower ownership interest of under 20%. In an effort to take advantage of the changing e-commerce and delivery trends in the market, Reliance Retail and Google have made this strategic investment, demonstrating their interest in the quickly expanding hyperlocal delivery market.
Dunzo funding details are as follows:
Date
Amount
Investors
Series
November 2016
$1.18 Million
Aspada Investment
Series A
December 2017
$12.3 Million
Google, Blume Ventures, Aspada Investment
Series B
November 2018
$1 Million
Alteria Capital
Debt
February 2019
$3.1 Million
Blume Ventures, Lakshmi Narayanan, Raintree Family Office, Monika Garware Modi
Lightbox Ventures, 3L Capital, STIC Investment, STIC Ventures and Google
Series D
February 2020
$11 Million
Alteria Capital
Debt
September 2020
$28 Million
Google, Lightstone Fund
Series E
January 2021
$40 Million
Google, Lightbox, Evolvence, Hana Financial Investment, LGT Lightstone Aspada, and Alteria
Series E
January 6, 2022
$240 Million
Reliance Retail, Lightbox, Lightrock, Alteria Capital
Venture Round
November 30, 2022
$6.2 Million
BlackSoil
Debt Financing
April 6, 2023
$75 Million
Google
Convertible Note
Dunzo – Partnerships
Dunzo have some prominent partners:
Pepsico
Dunzo partnered with PepsiCo. With this partnership that was announced on May 26, 2020, Dunzo now delivers four different food products produced by the PepsiCo subsidiary brand Frito-Lay, which are Lay’s, Kurkure, Doritos, and Quaker.
Leadsquared
Dunzo next partnered with LeadSquared to bring greater efficiency in its process of onboarding new retailers on the platform. Besides, this partnership that materialized on June 23, 2020, will also be empowering them with a wider reach and local delivery services. It also partnered with Zee5 and Alt Balaji in September 2021 to push Dunzo Daily.
Alliance Insurance Brokers
Dunzo partnered with alliance insurance brokers in February 2023 to give its nationwide network of delivery partners insurance coverage.
Shield
The company partnered with Shield in April 2023 to enhance its ability to prevent fraud activities in real-time.
Parinaam Foundation
Dunzo partnered with the Parinaam Foundation in May 2023, and with this partnership, they aim to support the financial literacy of women delivery partners and store executives.
Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC)
The seller division of Dunzo joined the Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC) in August 2023, and with this alliance, the company hopes to sign up over 20,000 merchants from a variety of industries.
One-Tap
Dunzo partnered with OneTap in September 2023 to pay employees’ salaries for August, as the company had previously missed multiple deadlines and failed to pay staff members’ August salaries.
Dunzo – Awards
Dunzo was listed in the LinkedIn Top Startups of the Year in 2021.
It has won the Digies Award for both consecutive years (2019 and 2020).
The company won the Mommy Awards in 2020 and 2021.
Like every other startup, Dunzo also faced many hiccups and challenges. The major pain points for the company were an inefficient delivery system, the time taken by the runners to complete the deliveries, website and mobile application management, and major financial losses.
Dunzo Threatens Staff
Some of the Dunzo staff allegedly received messages from Dunzo on July 27, 2022, which threatened them with permanent suspensions if they were found guilty of supporting strikes.
The message that Dunzo staff have received allegedly on July 26, 2022, read, “It is to inform you that any ID found at the location of a strike will be permanently suspended. Please don’t be a part of a strike or support a strike either.”
Data Breach Issue
Dunzo suffered a data breach issue in July 2020, when the company said that the Dunzo website, which had the users’ information, email addresses, and more, was hacked by the hackers. The exact amount of user data that was accessed was not known then but the payment information of the users was not been accessed by the hackers. The technical team at Dunzo updated the security pattern after that incident, which is now stronger. Dunzo had initiated an internal investigation into this case. The investigation eventually came up with the suggestion that the unauthorized access to the database could have followed a break in the servers of a third party. While speaking on this issue after the data breach, Dunzo CEO Mukund Jha published a post and said that his company has taken “swift action” to fix the security problems and has also, “added additional layers of security protocols” to fix the issue.
The company also claimed they have enhanced the old logging and tracing mechanism to monitor any such incidents, which will help the users receive an alert when there will be any doubtful activity in the future.
Jha said, “While our best teams are working on resolving and strengthening our security efforts, we’re also engaged with leading cyber security firms and experts to further strengthen our efforts,”
The Case of Drugs
Both Dunzo and Rapido delivery agents were arrested in Bengaluru, as a part of the ongoing crackdown on narcotics, which included two men. Police busted two delivery agents who were found delivering huge amounts of drugs around the city. Police, however, said that the food delivery services at Twitter Pany “cannot be blamed” for their employees being involved in crime.
In one of their biggest hauls of marijuana and other synthetic drugs, the Bengaluru Police have seized 240 kgs of ganja (marijuana), MDMA tablets, MDMA crystals, weed oil, brown sugar, and much more. The seizure is part of Bengaluru Police’s continuing crackdown on narcotics and its wide networks.
“This bust is not just one place but from across Bengaluru,” Bengaluru police commissioner Kamal Pant said.
While Dunzo doing good job of door delivery of essentials during the lockdown,some misusing it & doing illegal things. CCB arrest 2 accused who used the cover of DUNZO delivery boys & procured & tried to sell two headed snake (SAND BOA) prohibited under Wildlife Protection Act.. pic.twitter.com/PwHOwelog2
According to the top police officials, marijuana is being sourced from Kerala and Andhra Pradesh. Further investigation is underway and the police are hopeful of making more arrests. The local police are heading the investigation but they are cooperating with other state police and central agencies.
Dunzo – LayOffs
On July 21, 2023, Dunzo fired 300 people, representing 30% of the workforce. The layoffs are being done because of cash flow problems. According to several media sources, the corporation has also postponed paying half of the employees’ June salary due to a cash shortage, and the senior leadership would be most affected.
Dunzo, however, has let go of up to 400 people over the past nine months as a result of being compelled to downsize its consumer-facing business, Dunzo Daily, and shift its emphasis to the B2B vertical, Dunzo Merchant Services.
Dunzo fired 150–200 people in its third round of layoffs on September 27, 2023, to cut costs. According to many news reports, the pending payouts for June and July for the employees will be cleared in November.
Apart from Meratask in Delhi and Jugnoo in Chandigarh, it also has rivals emerging out of metro cities like Delhi, Pune, and Bengaluru. The logistics industry in India is huge and intense competition is inevitable.
Dunzo – Future Plans
Dunzo has garnered massive popularity in the cities it presently operates in. The company has made the lives of people easy and stress-free. Shortly, the company is aiming to strengthen product searches on its app by partnering with different merchants and vendors. The team at Dunzo wants to expand its coverage of physical retail stores on the mobile application. Dunzo is also in the process of expanding its outreach to different tier-two cities.
Dunzo Founder and CEO, Kabeer Biswas spoke at an event, where he mentioned the company’s growth plans to deliver essentials to customers in just 15-20 minutes. He also revealed that in the next 24 months, Dunzo will be rolling out the daily category across the country to 20 cities, and digitizing the same for the company’s TAM of 50 million customers.
Dunzo is planning for an IPO in 2-4 years as per various news reports of January 2022.
Kabeer the Founder said ” We were looking forward to a partnership that would allow us to be able to do that, and we have been able to agree and work very closely with the Reliance team towards this goal.”
The company is planning to raise a fund of $ 35 million in funding from existing investors like Reliance Industries and Google as well as new investors.
FAQs
What is Dunzo used for?
Dunzo is a hyper-local on-demand delivery service in India. It is a delivery company that delivers anything and everything on demand with minimum delivery charges.
How much does Dunzo cost?
Dunzo approximately charges INR 40 for 4 km, INR 80 for 8 km, and INR 120 for distances greater than 8 km.
What does Dunzo mean?
Dunzo is a slang abbreviation that refers to‘do, over, and finished‘.
Who is the CEO of Dunzo?
Kabeer Biswas is the founder and CEO of Dunzo.
How long does Dunzo take to deliver?
The entire delivery cycle approximately takes 35-45 minutes.
Is Dunzo reliable?
Delivering an exceptional customer experience for its platform’s users is Dunzo’s main motto. Hundreds of positive reviews speak for Dunzo’s reliability.
Everyone loves when the requested commodities arrive just in front of you, without any hassle of going outdoors to buy. That’s why Dunzo, a micro-market Indian startup company, bestows online consumer services such as pick up and drop, online location discovery, online ordering, Travel services, Local couriers, and other essential deliveries. Is it astounding, to get whatever you want at your doorstep with the help of Dunzo?
Pertinently, Dunzo was founded by Kabeer Biswas and later collaborated with his friends Mukund Jha, Ankur Agarwal, and Dalvir Suri to dilate the company’s services. That’s when Dunzo was launched in July 2014 as a small hyper-local service in the WhatsApp group which has now enhanced as one of the best delivery services in India.
People adulated Dunzo for arranging a user-friendly experience by connecting throughout the user journey. Dunzo ultimately became a combatant service among Amazon, Flipkart, Swiggy, Zomato, Bigbasket, and Grofers.
Moreover, the company is ranked 4,022 whereas its global rank for the last three months is 67,116, and grown worth 1 billion dollars in the past two years since its commencement.
Let’s look at some of the unknown facts about the largest HLD business Dunzo.
In 2017, Dunzo became Google’s first direct investment in India and led investors by financing 12 million dollars in the Series E funding round, while the Dunzo company plotted to enlarge its hyperlocal online service.
Till now, it is estimated that Google has invested around 40 million dollars. On note of it, the company has become worth 75.4 million dollars in FY 2021 according to its gross merchandise value.
2. Dunzo Partnership With PepsiCo
Dunzo – Pepsico tie-up
At the time of the pandemic, Dunzo developed its partnership with the major beverages and food company- PepsiCo India. Besides, Dunzo initiated the success of the partnership with PepsiCo by launching their exclusive brands such as Lay’s, Doritos, Quaker, Kurkure, and beverages.
3. Dunzo Was started as a Whatsapp Group
In 2015, Dunzo began its business through WhatsApp by taking small steps and ultimately becoming a massive success and the largest hyper-local delivery service in India.
During 2016, the company received 500 orders a day via WhatsApp, but as of today, they attained over 2 million transactions in a month, resulting in 40 times growth in India.
4. Dunzo Follows Hyper-Local Delivery Model
The company functions in eight major metropolitan cities – Bangalore, Delhi, Gurugram, Pune, Mumbai, Jaipur, Chennai, and Hyderabad. Moreover, Dunzo renders on-demand delivery services via an app, which made convenient and nifty for customers.
Dunzo runs as a Hyperlocal Delivery Business model by engaging on-demand services, delivering medicine from the pharmacy to the patients, as well as courier services. Furthermore, it acts as a guide to people in tracking online locations and delivering ordered items by the customers.
If you are a person living in a city where Dunzo service is available, you might have used it after the pandemic started in March 2020. Well, I did it to get college books from my seniors. And if you are an ardent user of Google Pay you would have come across the feature to order groceries and medicines through Dunzo. This partnership has been a success for both parties in terms of an increased user base.
6. Dunzo Delivers Anything to Everything
Using Dunzo, users can deliver packages from one place to another; purchase services from merchants that have tie-ups with Dunzo; pick-up and drop-off services; offer delivery services like grocery delivery, medicine delivery, laundry delivery; bike taxi, and bike pool services.
Dunzo website showing services enabled by Dunzo
Purchase of medicines from a pharmacy using the app requires a doctor’s prescription to be accepted as a task.
Dunzo is against users initiating tasks that are illegal, immoral, unethical, and unsafe like narcotic drugs, alcoholic beverages, etc.
7. A User-friendly Dunzo App
Dunzo App
The Dunzo app has been user-friendly in terms of fulfilling the tasks of its users quickly and accurately. The chat interface in the app allows the users to converse with the partner who is paired to complete the task.
Using this feature, the user can add new tasks, edit or cancel them and images can also be shared of the product if the user’s need is specific or the partner can share the image of the product to finalize with the user before purchase.
Therefore, Consumers can order anything from a store through the Dunzo app or portal, where the ordered products will be delivered by the Dunzo member at their doorstep.
And also Dunzo even makes courier services, where they pick the particular item from the pickup person’s address and deliver it to the correct destination.
Dunzo charges its customers based on the distance covered and the time spent at a shop. The lowest task price is Rs. 45 that is Rs. 45 for 3 Km and the price increases to Rs. 15 every other Km after. And the average rate for a task is Rs. 75.
The pricing model selected by Dunzo provides much savings to its users and is beneficial for shopping and delivery as it saves and works with a minimal amount of money.
Conclusion
“I will Dunzo it to you” is a common phrase among people especially the younger generation who live in cities where the service is available. Even though the delivery app has made people lazier by doing their tasks for them we cannot ignore the fact that the platform was a major life-saver during the pandemic and for office-goers with a hectic schedule by performing simple tasks for them.
Dunzo had grown as a major business in 2020 by having an average of 4x order value during the COVID crisis. Dunzo has grown 40x in the past two years and is growing at 10-15 percent every month and it raised $40 million from its investors in January 2021.
Dunzo’s success isn’t a fairytale but a success due to understanding the needs of people in these changing times.
FAQs
What is unique about Dunzo?
Dunzo is a hyper-local on-demand multi-delivery service app working towards fulfilling the requirement of anything and everything. It allows its users to get access to anything and everything as per their demand.
What is the mission of Dunzo?
The mission of Dunzo is stated as “to be the logistics layer of every city.”
What is the tagline of Dunzo?
The tagline of Dunzo is “Let’s Dunzo It”. It stands for transporting anything from one to another as per user demand.
Who is the target audience for Dunzo?
The target audience for Dunzo is considered as anyone who owns a smartphone.
Who invented Dunzo?
Dunzo was invented by the joint efforts of Kabeer Biswas, Ankur Agarwal, Dalvir Suri, and Mukund Jha in July 2014.
