[The F Word] Online office supplies platform Aahaa Stores raises $2M

Aahaa Stores will use new funds to upgrade technology, expand business across new verticals and geographies, enrich infrastructure, and mobilise superior talent.

Chennai-based Aahaa Stores on Monday announced a fresh equity infusion of $2 million from global investment Group Calega, based in the UAE.

Before this round, the company raised capital funds twice, $1 million each, from a group of investors led by YourNest. It plans to use the fresh investments to upgrade technology, expand business across new verticals and geographies, enrich infrastructure by inducting more independent service providers, and mobilise superior talent.

Aahaa Stores claims to be a one-stop solution for all business needs pertaining to office management, which are classified as indirect spends. It helps businesses save on indirect purchases spend by managing their supply chain, bringing collective bargaining benefits, and streamlining the vendor network.

Founded in early 2013 by industry veteran Asokan Sattanathan and B-school alumni Rajaraman Sundaresan and Shri Harish Kannan, Aahaa Stores claims to have clients such as IndusInd bank, Tata AIG, TCS, Wipro, Reliance Nippon, ITC Hotels, Oyo, Uber, Yes Bank, Equitas, Ashok Leyland, Bosch, Eicher, RBL, HDB Financial, Syntel, HGS, Kone, Tata Capital, and WPP Group.

Asokan Sattanathan, Co-founder and Chairman, Aahaa Stores, said “In all, this step should enable us to provide superior customer experience resulting in enhanced trust and confidence, gain priority from quality suppliers, and attract talent. We are well on course to achieve the first milestone of Rs 100 million per month sales. Using these funds, we plan to expand the full range of curated assortment of products across all major brands in stationery, printed materials, housekeeping, electronics & IT, food & beverage, packaging and company-specific consumables.”  

Aahaa’s proprietary iPOS platform is designed to integrate all steps of evolved supply chain processes like demand aggregation, online approvals, e-catalogues, recommendation engine, micro logistics through auto-assignments, real-time analytics and spend control tools.

Sanjay Pahwa, Director at Calega, said, “We are excited to partner with Team Aahaa. We were looking at investing in India and narrowed down our choices to startups that use technology in a unique way to make life simpler for the business, industry, and governments. Aahaa Stores aptly fits in our description with an innovative business model and a state-of-the-art platform that makes purchasing for internal consumption a breezy affair. We should be able to assist Aahaa grow beyond the boundaries of India.”