Unlike other Entrepreneurs, Albinder Dhindsa had no intentions of getting into the Entrepreneurial Wagon. He came out as an accidental entrepreneur who saw a big gap and potential in logistic industry and decided to solve it with his unique and effective business idea named Grofers.
After completing his graduation from IIT and Masters from Columbia University, Albinder was happily working in his 9 to 5 high paid job at Zomato until he saw a great business opportunity for himself and began working on his ambitious project- Grofers. Being a first generation Entrepreneur, Nobody thought that Albinder will be able to manage his foot in this Entrepreneurial world, But with his problem-solving approach, he converted his ambitious project into the million dollars startup.
How the journey of Grofers began?
It all started out while Albinder Dhindsa was in US! While working in Cambridge Systematics, he met Saurabh Kumar and kept in touch with him considering then, but with genuinely no intentions of any entrepreneurial reason.
Albinder and Saurabh spotted a few loopholes within the logistic marketplace and noticed that the maximum of the transactions between purchasers and nearby merchants have been unorganized and wanted improvement. He also went on to speak with traders with a stable consumer base. They have been struggling to supply higher excellent and reliability. They lacked the form of infrastructure had to deliver that quality. This is after they started out ideating the startup that might avert such day after day issues. The entrepreneur duo named the start-up as One Number.
Their initial aim became to offer an on-demand pick out up and drop provider from shops around their neighborhoods. The stores included pharmacy, grocery, and restaurants. The idea changed into to create a one-stop solution for consumer’s nearby transport needs. With competition in the marketplace like Zomato, they started staring at that most of the orders had been coming from pharmacy and grocery shops, and very few from restaurants. Albinder Dhindsa and his partner realized the need to confine their commercial enterprise to only grocery and pharmacy. Subsequently, they rebranded themselves as Grofers – A hyper-local logistics network.
Grofers Growth:
Like other startups, When Albinder Dhindsa and Saurabh Kumar started on their idea, they faced many struggles and challenges and one in every of which being – growing attention! Gradually, by offering pleasant service, they began to gain customer loyalty, and their kitty started getting bigger.
The phrase began to unfold, and in a matter of few months, things began to boost very quickly and that they began seeing plenty of traction from local merchants and were now remaining kind of 500 deliveries an afternoon. In the following few months, Grofers increased to including seven stations to their kitty, had been gratifying extra than 3000 orders according to week and had also been signing new clients as nicely.
Within three months of taking off, they had reached a stage wherein they were processing orders worth Rs. Eight lakhs. With a growing number each day, they decided to make it more handy and useful for customers and came out with its mobile application.
Grofers Funding & Investors:
Grofers controlled to acquire its first funding, which turned into 500 thousand dollars in the yr of 2014. It became in the 12 months 2015; the business enterprise went on to elevate $10million in its Series A funding from the company Tiger Global Management. In the same year, Grofers controlled to draw an investment of $35 Million in its Series B spherical of investment.
Subsequently, the enterprise persisted in attracting funding from numerous traders within the following years of its operations. Grofers largest funding till date has come from SoftBank which become amounted $220 Mn. Given below is the listing of buyers that have over the years furnished investment to Grofers.
- Cyriac Roeding
- Roeding Ventures
- Tiger Global Management
- SoftBank
- Sequoia Capital
How Albinder Dhindsa Overcame The Loss By Changing Business Model Of Grofers:
Initially, Grofers began as B2B (Business 2 Business) model. At the cease of 2015, the company was at a loss of Rs. 225 Crores on sales of most effective 14.3 Crores and Albinder Dhindsa found out the primary cause behind it. The problem lied in a complex and fragmented supply chain. It changed into growing problems in delivery consistency, and resolving this; there was a need of establishing its own supply chain.
The concept was to have Grofers’ own warehouse and supply chain management. It needed a whole lot of investment. At the preliminary level, no investor wanted to get into a business that was no longer making an awful lot of earnings. Gradually, Dhindsa and his companion by hook or by crook convinced traders and they set up 60,000 sq. Ft. Storage facilities in Delhi, Bengaluru, and Gurgaon.
This made the delivery system captive. The business began scaling up from February 2017. Average order fee shot up from Rs.750 in July 2016 to Rs. 1300 where it stands currently.
Author’s Point of View:
Solving this kind of hassle and elevating the company from monetary turmoil to fulfillment, depicted Albinder Dhindsa’s impeccable business acumen. His sagacity to identify problems and ideate solutions have allowed him to raise Grofers to the top, and he is bold about the growth. His grit and ability to stand challenges is something each entrepreneur need to emulate. Today, Grofers is worth $425 Millions within the market.
Comments