Grofers, the online grocery delivery company, has reportedly delivered to around 7,000 households in under 15 minutes on July 26, according to Chief Executive Officer and Co-Founder Albinder Dhindsa. This development comes along the heels of the company’s recent foray into instant deliveries, after securing USD 120 million in funding from public-listed company Zomato.

Dhindsa supposedly commented that the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic taught two important things. The first was the importance of bolstering the ecosystem of delivery agents and local partners who ensure that the essentials are delivered to the company’s users. Secondly, users accessed the grocery services as per their needs throughout the month.

Last year, Grofers overhauled its network of partners based in Gurugram, to start direct deliveries from brands. It also established an infrastructure that would allow the company to offer faster services to its end consumers.

Talking about the transformation, the CEO apparently said that the company’s 5-year experience has given it the appropriate tools to build an ecosystem that assures delivery of groceries to every household in Gurugram in under 15 minutes. On July 26, over 7,000 houses received their deliveries within 15 minutes.

This is not the first time that Grofers has attempted to foray into instant deliveries. During its early days, the company tried implementing this system, but the idea was dropped due to low ticket sizes and high burn.

Earlier in June, Grofers raised around USD 120 million from Zomato. Tiger Global, the company’s current investor, also participated in this funding round. Zomato is also seeking from the Competition Commission of India (CCI) to obtain a stake of 9.3 percent in the company. This investment will possibly turn Grofers into a unicorn, a privately-funded tech startup with a valuation of over a billion dollars.

Recently, Zomato’s rival Swiggy also talked about the significance of non-food delivery sectors, as well as its plans to double down on the meat and grocery delivery verticals.

Source credits:

https://www.moneycontrol.com/news/business/startup/grofers-forays-into-instant-delivery-delivers-to-7000-households-within-15-mins-7230631.html