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SuperK, a tech-enabled grocery retail chain for small towns, on Wednesday said it raised $5.5 million in a pre-Series A round led by Binny Bansal-backed 021 Capital.

Investors, including Saikiran Krishnamurthy (Co-founder, xto10x), Ankit Nagori (Founder, Curefoods), Ashish Kacholia (public market investor), Nipun Mehra (Founder, Ula), MarsShot Ventures (Razorpay founders), Blume Founders Fund, and existing investors, also participated in the funding round.

The Kadapa, Andhra Pradesh-based startup will use the funds to invest in expansion, build a strong team and brand, and enhance technology and supply chain infrastructure.

At present, SuperK is expanding its team and is looking to hire across sales and marketing, tech and product, analytics and data science roles. 

Founded in 2019 by second-time entrepreneurs Neeraj Menta and Anil Thontepu, SuperK aims to bring modern retail experiences to Tier III and beyond towns.

In a press statement, Neeraj Menta, Co-founder, SuperK, said, “The existing organised retail models are built for the metros and can’t scale deep into the semi-urban and rural markets. SuperK is on a mission to create thousands of entrepreneurs by enabling franchise partners to take advantage of the massive market opportunity while keeping the unique needs and challenges of rural retail in mind.”  

The retail-tech startup has built an end-to-end integrated system that enables franchise stores to offer best practices, including standardised low pricing, consistent quality, discounts, cashback, and digital billing. 

SuperK manages procurement, marketing, promotions, and merchandising for all stores through its tech systems and a standard operating plan (SOP).

Last year, SuperK launched nearly 50 stores across 20 towns in the Kadapa and Anantapur districts of Andhra Pradesh. The startup claimed the franchisee stores are seeing a 4X growth in sale volume, clocking Rs 1 crore on average in annual sales. 

“India’s non-metropolitan customers’ aspirations and consumption powered by steady growth in their incomes have been driving demand over the last few years. This is accelerating the grocery category towards organised retail in these Tier III towns in the country,” said Sailesh Tulshan, Founder, 021 Capital.