South Asian E-Grocer Closes $4M in Seed Round

Quicklly, which provides South Asian groceries and meal delivery, continues to spice up the digital marketplace with the completion of a $4 million seed funding round. The e-grocer touts more than 250,000 unique South Asian/Indian items available for nationwide and local delivery, and nearly 300 independent vendors leveraging its e-commerce platform.

Driven by a desire to make authentic Indian and South Asian ingredients, products, foods and meals more accessible, Keval Raj and Hanish Pahwa, co-founders of Chicago-based Quicklly, launched the platform in 2017. Since then, the company claims it has grown by 11,000%.  This phenomenal growth accelerated last March, when the company completed a $1.27 million pre-seed funding round.

Quicklly will use its additional capital to expand geographic access, increase e-commerce and offline channel partnerships, and invest in logistics and infrastructure to generate additional same-day delivery capabilities.

• Expanding geographic access: In addition to offering nationwide delivery of grocery items through quicklly.com and Instacart, Quicklly also offers same-day grocery and food delivery for residents of greater Chicago, the San Francisco Bay Area and New York City/northern New Jersey. In the coming months, the team expects to expand same-day delivery to Austin, Seattle, Los Angeles and additional cities throughout the United States.
• Increasing e-commerce and offline channel partnerships: Following on the launch of the Quicklly Indian Meal Kits storefront, Instacart and Quicklly are working toward the launch of 90-minute Indian grocery delivery in 12 cities nationwide in 2022.
• Investing in logistics and infrastructure to expand same-day delivery capabilities: To facilitate the company's ongoing growth in the United States, Quicklly will expand its team from 28 to more than 50 full-time and contracted employees. This includes the addition of Divya Dixit as the company's first VP of growth marketing, and Maiwand Mayar as head of offline growth.

"As a big believer in the power of digital disruption, I back companies with explosive growth that are making waves in their categories, and Quicklly is doing exactly that. It is not content with simply waiting for the North American food industry to wake up to the importance and market power of South Asian consumers. The team is actively and aggressively building that future every day," said Pat Vihtelic, founder of Chicago-based Home Chef, Kroger’s meal solutions company and one of Quicklly's earliest investors and latest participants in its funding round. "This new round of investment demonstrates the strength of Quicklly's market leadership and the resounding momentum the team is seeing as consumers embrace its innovative business model and product offering."

The latest round of funding was also led by high-growth technology investors such as JAM Fund (Tinder co-founder Justin Mateen), Great North Ventures, and Adam Goldenberg and Don Ressler (founders of TechStyle Group).

"With the support of this new group of investors and the hundreds of thousands of customers who choose Quicklly each and every day, we've never been more confident and excited about our future as North America's largest and most comprehensive South Asian marketplace," said Raj. 

Quicklly is also receiving support from its fanbase. The company launched its Brand Ambassador program last month, an innovative initiative that allows Quicklly's broad base of loyal customers and digitally savvy fans to earn up to $6,000. 

"Since we launched, our customers have been asking for ways that they could get more involved and share their love for Quicklly with their families and networks,” remarked Raj and Pahwa in a joint statement. “That's why we're thrilled to launch this robust and digitally forward Brand Ambassador program. We can't wait to see how our committed fans make the brand their own."