Ripplr, an India-based tech distribution and logistics platform, has announced that it has raised $40 million in a Series B round from new and existing Investors.

Ripplr said in a statement on Wednesday that the round was led by Fireside Ventures.

The fundraising also saw participation from new investors Bikaji and Neo Foods along with existing investors 3one4 Capital, Zephyr Peacock and Japanese conglomerate Sojitz Corporation.

The round also witnessed debt participation from Strides Ventures, Alteria Capital, Northern Arc Investments and Trifecta Capital.

According to the statement, the funds will be utilized to fortify its tech platform, for team expansion, and to build a pan-India presence.

Abhishek Nehru and Santosh Dabke, Co-Founders of Ripplr, said the funding is an indicator of the company’s strong unit economics; and validation of its business model.

“Each Indian State is like a country having multiple dimensions on buying patterns, price points, and consumer sentiments,

“Our goal is to stitch this multi-dimensional gap, helping distributors and retailers in connecting with brands,” they said.

With this round, they are aiming to increase the firm’s geographical footprints in India to solve the reach and visibility complications faced by all the fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) brands in offline distribution and supply chain.

“At Ripplr, we aim at becoming one of the trusted long-term partners for brands, distributors, and Kirana stores by building an omnichannel model to optimize supply chain inefficiencies,” they said.

Set up in 2019, Ripplr is a Plug-n-Play integrated distribution network offering distribution as a service (DaaS) to brands managing and digitizing operations, helping create visibility and reach with a management layer for the supply chain.

The company’s platform facilitates artificial intelligence (AI)-based predictions and decisions, efficient loading and routing decisions, live inventory tracking, and buying patterns, enabling brands to deliver an integrated customer experience by elevating certainty and quality for consumers.

The company deploys predictive analytics to manage demand and inventory for both brands and retailers.

Its’ distribution network has 24 warehouses across Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Chennai, Delhi-NCR, Mumbai, Pune along with tier 2 cities servicing 80,000+ retailers having long-term partnerships with all major FMCG brands like HUL, Britannia, ITC, Nestle, Mondelez, Colgate Reckitt Benckiser, Godrej, Dabur, and Nivea among others.

In the quest to build and scale up an asset-light, tech-enabled FMCG distribution network, Ripplr had earlier raised $12 million in a funding round with a mix of equity and debt from Japanese firm Sojitz Corporation and Stride Ventures in December 2021.

The company has grown exponentially in last four years scaling business across 12 cities and is operationally profitable.

“There is an increasing focus on offline expansion that we see with direct-to-consumer (D2C) brands after they acquire a strong consumer franchise,” said VS Kannan Sitaram, Co-Founder and Partner of Fireside Ventures.

“Ripplr’s Plug -n-Play model will work superbly well for such D2C brands,

“We at Fireside Ventures believe that there is a massive untapped potential in plug-and-play retail and are certain that Ripplr’s distribution platform operating at scale across the country will unlock the potential in the offline retail space,” he added.

According to the statement, the Indian FMCG business is one of the fastest-growing markets globally, and the Indian economy is also growing healthily at 7 percent to 8 percent annually, with a population of 1.4 billion consumers.

Ripplr said it would like to evolve as a futuristic omnichannel tech platform to make both distributors and retailers ready for front-end business scaling and optimization of backend efficiencies.

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