• Frendy

  Led · Series A · May 2022

  Frendy operates a modern network of neighborhood grocery mini-marts (Frendy Marts) and digitally connected micro‑kiranas to serve customers in India’s small towns and villages. The company runs about 2,000 micro kiranas and 25 marts across rural Gujarat and digitally connects a group of micro‑kiranas and end users to its marts to create a last‑mile digital commerce bridge. Frendy says the funds raised will be used to pay for central inventory required to supply its network. The company projects revenue of Rs 82 Cr for FY23 and hopes to double sales in the upcoming year as the brand spreads geographically. Founded in 2019 by Sameer Gandotra and based in Ahmedabad, Frendy aims to expand its physical footprint in the next 12 months to 100 marts and 3,000 micro kiranas. Frendy is an Ahmedabad-based online marketplace that builds a digitally connected network of convenience stores and virtual marts serving smaller towns and rural India. Co-founded in 2019 by Sameer Gandotra, Gowrav Vishwakarma, and Harshad Joshi, the platform offers groceries, drinks, fruits, vegetables, cleaning supplies, personal care, cosmetics, kitchenware and electronics. The company reports offering between 1,000 and 2,000 products and also states its catalog exceeds 4,500 items. Frendy leverages neighborhood home entrepreneurs to operate virtual marts and currently serves over 40 tier II–VI towns in Gujarat with about 50,000 clients. Revenue grew from Rs 40 crore in FY22 to Rs 82 crore in FY23. The company intends to use additional funding to grow its store network, enhance its technology offering, and expand its private-label product portfolio. Frendy operates a community group-buying platform that partners with neighborhood homepreneurs to create a “digital supermarket” offering more than 4,500 products across 25+ tier 2–6 towns. The Ahmedabad-based startup has a 100-person team including an in-house technology group and uses an asset-light franchised local distributor model targeted at Tier 3–6 markets. Frendy says it has achieved Rs 43 crore revenue in its first year with break-even unit economics and has disbursed over Rs 2 crore to its microentrepreneur community; it claims average partner incomes several times higher than typical reseller platforms. The company recently expanded into Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh and has hired industry veterans, including a new COO and a consulting advisor. With the new funding, Frendy plans to focus on growth, team expansion and working capital to scale its homepreneur model and expand geographic reach. The founders are Sameer Gandotra and Gowrav Vishwakarma; the company was founded in 2019. Frendy, operated by Areli Commerce Pvt Ltd, was founded in 2019 by Sameer Gandotra. The platform provides discounted groceries and other daily-need items to tier two–tier six towns via neighbourhood homepreneurs. It operates in more than 20 towns across Gujarat and lists over 3,000 products. The company reports 30% month-on-month growth and says it is set to reach an ARR of Rs 300 crore in the next financial year. Frendy currently has 75 employees across tech, community building and operations. The startup plans to use new capital to fund growth, expand its team and cover working capital needs, and intends to scale into Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and a few eastern states.

No current team members are available.