Gurugram-based retail-tech startup NutriTap acquires Bengaluru's Pikobox

NutriTap Technologies, a Gurugram-based retail-tech startup, on Thursday announced that it has acquired Pikobox’s business for an undisclosed amount.

This acquisition will help NutriTap, which is building a data-driven and asset-light, D2C retail channel, expand its operations in South India.

Commenting on the acquisition, Rajesh Kumar, Co-founder and CEO of Nutritap, said,

"The acquisition of Pikobox reaffirms our commitment to make smart retail more accessible for customers across the country. Thanks to the surge in the demand for contactless, smart retailing across the country, we have added some marquee names to our B2B clientele in the last 10 months. This acquisition gives us a quick and direct entry in the very important market of South India."

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Rajesh also confirmed that NutriTap is in the final stage of discussions with some key investors for a million-dollar Pre-Series-A round of funding.

“We have now hit the growth stage, which is backed by solid revenue metrics and a low-cost customer acquisition process,” he said.

“Our top-line has grown by four times in the last one year”, he added.

Founded by Hiran Kumar, Bharath T, Hari Prasanth and Arun Prasadh, Pikobox is a digital vending machine startup, providing smart retailing B2B solutions in Bengaluru, which is among the fastest-growing retail-tech markets of India.

"Pikobox's acquisition will help us bolster our position as a market leader in retail tech while opening more channels for brands to do D2C retail", said Nutritap's Co-founder and Chief Business Officer Priyank Tewari. “We are on track to enable smart retail at more than 2,500 locations in the top metro cities of India in the next two years,” he added.

Nutritap is aiming for the pole position in the $7 billion D2C retail market.

It claims to own the advanced, patented D2C retail technology which enables multi-category retail from smart, sensor-based kiosks, quite similar to what Amazon has been doing in some markets with their Amazon Go experience.

The startup had raised approximately $400,000 in seed capital from marquee investors like Patni family, Ananth Narayanan and a clutch of investors from McKinsey & Companyand Google. It expects to close the Pre-Series A round in this quarter.