Leading Dubai-based tech investors, Jabbar Internet Group, has reportedly led a million-dollar pre-Series A funding round by an Indian retail tech startup.
Launched in 2016, Arzooo, the startup in question, is based in Bengaluru, the Silicon Valley of India. Rishi Raj Rathore and Khushnud Khan, the co-founders of the company were formerly holding key positions at India’s leading e-commerce platform, Flipkart.
Arzooo has a dedicated tech platform dubbed Go Store that enables partner stores to offer a sizeable selection of products to consumers without requiring to maintain an inventory. The platform lets retailers purchase more than 5,000 products from 100 top brands using Go Store’s one-click solution.
The best part about the entire process is that Arzoo’s retail partners can buy these products without the involvement of distributors, suppliers, or wholesalers. Based on their preference, an Arzooo partner can have a product delivered right at their stores or at the customer’s doorsteps. From placing the order to the time of delivery, the process usually takes no more than 24 hours.
Arzooo’s co-founders are optimistic that this unique B2B offering can help smaller retail stores compete better against the increasing dominance of online retail giants such as Amazon or Flipkart. Although the company is currently offering only electronic products and appliances, it plans on expanding the platform to other categories as well. And if all goes as per plan, Arzooo might end up partnering with more than 500,000 retail stores across India.
Speaking on the company’s decision to invest in Arzooo, Hussam Khoury, the President of Jabbar Internet Group, stated: “Backing this venture, we foresee a disruption in physical retail in India with an immediate impact on sustainable business in the traditional format of ground touch and feel sales, better leveraged by technology.”
