The Venture Codex

Participated · Seed · Feb 2022

Lula builds a zero-commission, multi-vendor 30-minute delivery platform that helps convenience stores, pharmacies and consumer packaged goods brands publish thousands of SKUs and syndicate them across major third-party delivery companies. The product aggregates orders from multiple delivery providers into one synchronous tool for merchants with one or two employees. Lula charges a monthly subscription (which the company says most stores break even on within the first couple days of the month) rather than a commission. The company was started in late 2020 after founders encountered pandemic-driven store closures and has helped hundreds of stores onboard to delivery. Lula is growing store count by over 30% month-over-month, is in talks with large convenience store chains in Europe and Mexico, and is receiving organic inbound from independents across the U.S. The company has 35 employees and plans to use new funding for product development and to expand sales and customer success headcount as it scales to all 50 states and targets the next 2,000 customers. Lula digitizes convenience-store inventories, supplies stores with tablets and sustainable packaging, and syndicates their listings to major delivery platforms (DoorDash, Grubhub, Uber Eats and its own platform). The company shifted from hiring its own eco-conscious drivers to partnering with third-party delivery services and charging stores a $50–$99 monthly subscription instead of commissions. Lula operates in New York, New Jersey, Florida and Philadelphia, and says partnering stores have seen a roughly 30% increase in revenue within a 10-mile radius. The team comprises seven full-time and eight part-time staffers, and the company donates 1% of sales to 1% for the Planet. Lula plans senior hires in the Philadelphia area and aims to expand with larger convenience store chains and to onboard stores remotely across all 50 states.