|
BusinessWire India
Bengaluru (Karnataka) [India], October 21: Furtilo (formerly BelivMart), a Bengaluru-based hyperlocal delivery startup building a zero-commission delivery app for restaurants and every local shop in India's small towns, has raised seed funding from Trikona LLC, a US-based investment firm that backs early-stage startups. The amount was not disclosed. Furtilo lets customers in Tier-3 and Tier- 4 towns order food from local restaurants and all kinds of products from neighbourhood shops - kirana, stationery, electrical, hardware, mobile, electronics, puja items, agri supplies and more, on one app, with a Furtilo rider delivering to the door. Merchants pay a flat monthly subscription and zero commission on orders. Since relaunching under its new name in January 2026, Furtilo has expanded to 37+ small towns across Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Gujarat and now handles more than 6,000 orders a month. The funding will take it to 500+ towns by mid-2028, strengthen its technology and local operations, and add Parcel Delivery and Bike Taxi services on the same network. "Local merchants already have their customers' trust. What they lack is simple technology and a fair way to reach more people. Today our merchants save up to 30% of order value compared with commission-based platforms. This funding helps us take that to hundreds more towns," said Ankit Agrawal, Co-founder and CEO, Furtilo. Funding and expansion plans Furtilo now launches about ten new small towns a month, up from three in its early months, each opened by an in-house city team using a standard launch playbook. With the new funding, it aims to reach 30 launches a month by June 2027 and 500+ small towns by mid-2028. The seed round will fund: - Expansion: new Tier-3 and Tier-4 towns across Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Gujarat and neighbouring states, through in-house city teams and partnerships. - Technology and team: hiring in engineering and operations for the Furtilo customer, Merchant App and Rider apps. - New services: Parcel Delivery and Bike Taxi, built on Furtilo's existing rider network. Bike Taxi will launch only in states where it is permitted. "India's next wave of digital commerce will come from towns that big platforms have not reached. Orders growing fourfold in four months shows the demand is real. Furtilo has shown that local merchants will go digital when the model is simple and fair," said Keshav Kiran, Managing Partner, Trikona LLC. Traction (as of October 2026) - 37+ small towns live across Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Gujarat, including Dhar, Shajapur, Sendhwa, Jaora, Biaora, Raisen, Kukshi, Badnagar and Dalauda in Madhya Pradesh; Pratapgarh, Salumbar, Bari Sadri and Chhabra in Rajasthan; and Lunawada and Santrampur in Gujarat - 650+ restaurants and shops onboarded - 70+ delivery partners - 6,000+ orders a month, up from 1,500+ in June 2026, a 4x increase in four months The full list of live towns is at furtilo.com. The Furtilo app is available on Google Play and the App Store. The small-town gap Customers in big cities choose between a dozen food delivery and quick-commerce apps. In India's smaller towns, they often have one option or none. Local merchants rely on walk-ins, phone orders and relationships built over decades, and most delivery platforms have not prioritised these markets. Furtilo is built for them. Customers order from restaurants, cloud kitchens, grocery and kirana stores, stationery shops and other neighbourhood shops on one app, pay by UPI or cash on delivery, and track the rider live. With Nearby Shops, they can chat or call the shopkeeper, agree on the price as they would at the counter, and book a rider. How the zero-commission model works Merchants get a digital storefront and a delivery fleet without building an app or hiring a tech team. They pay a flat subscription starting at just Rs. 99 a month and zero commission on orders, so every dish costs the same as on the restaurant's own menu and the merchant keeps the full order value. Customers pay only the delivery charge. On commission-based food delivery platforms, merchants typically give up 20-30% of each order. "Most of my customers used to be people from the neighbourhood who walked in. Now I get orders from parts of town that never came to my shop before. Sales on Furtilo make up about 35% of my business," said Rishiraj Rathor, owner of The LevelUp Cafe, Badnagar, Madhya Pradesh. Where it started Furtilo's story begins in Dalauda, a small town in Madhya Pradesh's Mandsaur district, where co-founders Sumit Rathore and Vaibhav Rathore grew up. Their household had one two-wheeler, shared by the whole family. Picking up groceries, medicines or a meal from the market meant waiting until the bike was free, or going without. "We had one two-wheeler at home, and everyone needed it. The shops were nearby, but there was no easy way to get things home," said Sumit Rathore, Co-founder and CTO, Furtilo. Millions of families in small-town India live with this every day. So instead of starting in a metro and working outward, Furtilo began in towns like the one its founders came from. Dalauda is a live Furtilo town today. What's next By mid-2028, Furtilo plans to be the default delivery app in 500+ small towns, with food delivery, Nearby Shops, Parcel Delivery and Bike Taxi running on one rider network. Towns can request Furtilo by tapping "Notify me" in the app; restaurants and shops can join through the Furtilo Merchant app, and riders through the Furtilo Delivery app. (ADVERTORIAL DISCLAIMER: The above press release has been provided by BusinessWire India. ANI will not be responsible in any way for the content of the same)
|
