D2C Pulse is a newsletter written by the team at GlobalBees, curating happenings in the direct-to-consumer ecosystem of India.

The Football World Cup is picking up pace. Last-minute wonders, numerous upsets, the stars finding the net and goals aplenty. It’s safe to say that things are heating up. Meanwhile, back in India, things are still pretty hot in the D2C and marketplace world. Let’s get to it then…

🗞️Marketplace Updates

• Stop & Start: Amazon decided to shut down food its delivery business in India. The company has told its restaurant partners in India that it has decided to discontinue its food delivery service, which it had started in May 2020. Amazon ran the service only in Bangalore as a pilot.

  • In other news, the company launched Cross-Border logistics services ‘SEND’ for Indian exporters. The platform is currently available for exporters on Amazon Global Selling that ships air parcels from India to Amazon’s fulfilment centres in the US.  Amazon plans to expand SEND to additional destinations and shipping modes soon.

• Flipkart has introduced a handling fee for its cash on delivery orders. The e-tailer will now charge a nominal fee of ₹5 when a user chooses‘ Cash on Delivery’ payment option.

• B2B ecommerce platform Udaan has raised an undisclosed amount of debt funding from growth stage debt financing platform EvolutionX Debt Capital. The fresh capital will improve the startup’s financial strength as well as continue to drive its operational efficiencies with an enhanced focus on achieving profitable growth. In October, Udaan secured fresh funding worth $120 million through a convertible note from existing investors and bondholders. It was valued at around $3.2 billion in that funding round.

• Multiple quick grocery delivery companies like Flipkart Quick, Dunzo, Fraazo have scaled down their dark stores (warehouses) in the past few months. Industry watchers attribute this trend to funding crunch and the slowdown in demand surge that the sector saw during pandemic years. 

  • Blinkit's marketplace arm Blink Commerce Pvt. Ltd reported its FY22 loss at Rs 1,019 crore against Rs 381.7 crore in FY21, mainly driven by higher spending on transportation, contract and advertising. Blink Commerce’s revenue from operations grew 18% to Rs 236.3 crore in FY22.

🍕D2C Bites

• NirogStreet: Ayurvedic startup NirogStreet has secured $12 Mn in Series B funding round led by Jungle Ventures. The company uses tech to offer a range of services including doctor prescriptions, peer-to-peer learning for over 50,000 Ayurvedic doctors, digital health record management, and smart clinics.

• Beer Love from Japan: Japanese beverages group Kirin Holdings has increased its stake in B9 Beverages, the maker of Bira 91 beer, close to 20% from 10% by investing an additional ₹570 crore in the company, valuing the beer maker at $550-600 million post the fundraise.

  • In other news, Bira 91 in collaboration with Taiwan’s Taihu Brewing has launched “The Pineapple Express” – a fresh, fruity, and tropical-style beer.  Inspired by the famous Taiwanese Pineapple Cake, this refreshing ale has been brewed using locally sourced pineapples from India. Brewed at Bira 91’s brewery in Mysuru and it is exclusively available at Bira 91 Taprooms in Koramangala and Bengaluru International Airport. Chalo Bangalore!

• Ayurveda & Kajal: Bollywood and Tollywood actress Kajal Aggarwal has invested in The Ayurveda Co. (T.A.C.) in the latest $15 million funding round. Launched in 2021 as an online-first brand, T.A.C. claims a 500 percent growth in its top-line revenue from March to October 2022.

• RapidBox - a retailer of footwear, sports and casual fashion wear categories has raised $4.5M Series A funding led by SIG Venture Capital. The brand controls the manufacture of goods with an in-house line, which allows it to run quality checks and have an end-to-end view of the supply chain. The value-for-money brand retails through its website as well as ecommerce platforms including Flipkart and Myntra.

• Mamaearth got into bit of a pickle due to its ambassador Richa Chadha’s tweet. Amid the ongoing debate due to the tweet, the beauty and baby care product firm got entangled and received severe backlash from netizens for supporting Richa Chadha. The company tendered an apology to douse the situation. Even the founders pitched in to firefight.

• Healthkart raised $65M funding from Temasek, A91 Partners. Nutraceuticals firm The Gurugram-based nutraceuticals brand houses eight popular supplement brands including MuscleBlaze, TrueBasics, bGreen, The Protein Zone, HKVitals, Nouriza, and Gritzo. It has over 100 offline stores across 40 cities in India.

📢Leader Speak

Get the latest on what D2C Founders and Leaders had to say this week!

Reads and Recommendations 📚

• The Ambaniverse and the world of Reliance from a consumer’s lens

• Time Travel with Ikea Brochures

• Black Friday Shopify Sales Visualisation

• The W Framework Rethinking Your Company’s End-of-Year Exercise

• All the marketing babble in one pic. More here

Which Brand?🤔

Guess which is the Bestselling Robotic Vacuum on Amazon. Yep, it mops too!

That’s all for this week! Bye!

Stay tuned for more.

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