[Funding alert] Retail aggregator F5 closes seed round led by Venture Catalysts

India’s first integrated incubator Venture Catalysts, on Wednesday, said that it recently invested an undisclosed amount in retail aggregator F5.

Founded in 2018 by IIM-Lucknow batchmates Raghav Arora and Lalit Kumar Aggarwal, and incubated by Gurugram-based incubator Huddle, F5 provides opportunities for its partner vendors to upsell and cross-sell their products, ranging from refreshments to services.

Speaking on the solutions offered, Raghav Arora, Co-founder of F5, said, 

“Our consumers wanted us to have physical stores and be near them for their immediate needs. Just a couple of months back, we decided to cater to this demand by partnering with already existing vendors. We have so far partnered with 20+ such vendors, and have plans to partner with 5,000+ vendors within NCR only. For customers, we are a brand for their workplace needs that is fresher and more authentic. For our vendors, we have become their access point for multiple partnerships that can boost their business and revenues. F5 is also becoming a unique supply chain for many tech and non-tech consumer brands.”

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Currently, F5's go-to-market product is tea. The startup has successfully on-boarded 4,000+ paid consumers across Delhi and Lucknow, while enabling and optimising the revenue of these vendors.

Speaking on the investment, Apoorv Ranjan Sharma, Founder of Venture Catalysts, said,

“As emphasised by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, it is the time to revive our local industries and businesses that struggle to cope with larger brands despite offering quality products/services. F5 is doing exactly this – upskilling, as well as providing technology, delivery, and management support to local vendors and SMEs, while helping organise the highly fragmented workplace retail space."

Previously, in March, the startup raised an undisclosed seed round of funding from prominent angel investors and micro-VCs, including LetsVenture, Madhusudan Kela-backed Singularity, Mohit Satyanand (Director, DFM Foods; Chairman and Founder, Teamworks Art), Varun Laul (MD, Zodius Advisors), Tres Ventures, Huddle, and Startup Buddy.

Over the next year, F5 plans to expand the scope of its retail aggregation and supply chain through “workplace retail delivery service,” by offering a wide range of products such as an extended portfolio of refreshments, meals, and beverages, along with and services, including delivery pickups and drop-offs, micro ATMs, and mobile recharges, among others.