Dunzo in advanced stages of closing $25-30-m funding round

Quick-commerce start-up Dunzo is in advanced stages of closing a $25-30 million new round of funding, said people in the know.

While the valuation is still undecided, existing investors such as Reliance Retail, Google, and Lightrock are participating in the round. Reliance Retail holds a 25.8 per cent stake, and is already the single largest shareholder in the company.

• Also read: Cash-strapped Dunzo further defers salary payments, to vacate office space

Dunzo has also proposed to reduce its burn to $300,000 a month with a smaller team, said sources. At the start of the year, Dunzo had more than 1,000 employees, and has since undertaken three rounds of layoffs. Earlier this month, the company further delayed the salaries of its employees for June and July, this time to November, amid a fund crunch.

Dunzo earlier delayed salaries to the first week of October after being unable to raise funds. It had also promised employees to pay an interest of 12 per cent per annum on the salary component that it held back from June.

• Also read: Dunzo defers salary payment for August amid crisis

Dunzo is also reorganising its business model and will reportedly shut down 50 per cent of its dark stores. The company will explore delivery partnerships with supermarkets and other merchants.

The company also closed 20-30 per cent of its dark stores in Delhi-NCR and Hyderabad in late December 2022. Quick grocery delivery, or quick commerce, is generally defined as home delivery of groceries in 10-30 minutes.

Bengaluru-headquartered Dunzo closed a $75 million financing round through convertible notes in April. The company had previously raised $240 million in equity funding in January 2022, led by Reliance Retail. Reliance Retail has a 25.8 per cent stake, while Google has about 20 per cent stake in the company. Cumulatively, the company has raised $457.6 million across 19 rounds of funding.

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