Wheelocity, a Semi-urban commerce platform, has raised USD 15 million in a round led by existing investor Lightspeed Ventures. This funding round also saw participation from Alteria Capital, Anicut Capital, and the company’s founder.
With a goal of reaching 10 million consumers, this new funding will be focused towards the company’s expansion across 20,000 towns and villages over the next year. Founder and CEO of Wheelocity has highlighted that Wheelocity plans to expand its presence beyond central Tamil Nadu and in Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, and Kerala, Selvam VMS, over the next 12 months.
Earlier, Wheelocity also procured fresh produce for major quick commerce and ecommerce channels, and has phased out its B2B arm a year ago. Currently, it completely focuses on B2C operations in Tier III towns and beyond. “We found a much larger opportunity, a much more profitable avenue, a much more value-creating possibility in servicing and building the rails for semi-urban and rural and hence the pivot out,” signified Selvam.
If we speak of Wheelocity, it offers fresh produce, groceries and categories under daily or high-frequency purchases. It operates with a fleet of over 1,500 vehicles, mostly three-wheelers, who are supported by more than 2,000 gig workers to offer these products to customers at their homes.
Selvam also notified that consumers in rural areas and semi-urban areas sometimes have to wait for as long as seven days to get access to something as basic as fresh produce, daily essentials, groceries, and FMCG products.
"The next wave of India's commerce growth will come from beyond the top 200 cities. Wheelocity's deep understanding of semi-urban markets, combined with their technology-first approach, positions them uniquely to capture this massive opportunity," highlighted Rahul Taneja, Partner at Lightspeed.
Wheelocity had raised USD 12 million previously, which included USD 2 million in debt, in its Series A round led by Lightspeed Venture Partners in July 2022.
