Street Jumper, a Jaipur-based on-demand hyperlocal delivery service startup which aims to revolutionize the way local goods move around the city, has been acquired by Sandiip Modi, a Mumbai-based entrepreneur.
While the company has not disclosed the amount associated with the deal, it has revealed that the acquisition is an all-cash deal. Post acquisition, the founders of the company will exit and will no longer be associated with it.
Founded in November 2014 by Tarin Poddar and Abhishek Chadha, Street Jumper was completely bootstrapped and had not raised any external funding. The company however, was in talks to raise Series A round of funding. Since Street Jumper is operating in Jaipur only, it is expected to expand its operations to various other cities in India post acquisition.
Street Jumper enables users to get their things move from one place to another. The mobile app connects users to a delivery boy, which the company likes to call “Jumper”, who offers personalized delivery service. Its mobile app is currently available on Android and iOS platform.
It delivers everything – food, grocery, medicines, clothes, stationary, electronics etc. and its prices starts at Rs. 20 which, going up depending on the distance and time.
The hyperlocal delivery market is a highly competitive segment. As for the company’s differentiating factor, it says that it is not focusing on any one particular vertical but provides an array of delivery services, based on the user’s need. It also offers real-time tracking on the map with exact location and live ETAs, which helps maintain transparency and to ensure that there are no unnecessary delays.
Street Jumper follows the usual background check norms as well. Each delivery guy from the company goes through a very thorough screening and background check, as well as a training process to ensure user’s belongings are safe and secure.
And while there may be a heavily backed companies like Grofers, Peppertap and others in this segment, Street Jumper’s ability to run bootstrapped, still process over 250 orders a day and get successfully acquired, goes to show how solid business models are definite to be successful in the long run, even in the highly competitive, over crowded hyperlocal delivery segment.
The Segment Scenario
Even though funds poured in Millions last year — particularly in this segment — it has become difficult to stay afloat due to high competition and high user acquisition and operational cost. The most recent example would be none other than Peppertap, which primarily started up as a grocery delivery company and eventually will shut down that particular arm, to shift focus to logistics and a a sound business model.
Before Peppertap, other startups, including Localbanya and Townrush had to shut down their businesses due to their inability to build a sustainable business. The companies were also unable to raise fresh capital to sustain with their over the top burn rates and zero profit models.
As for what analysts and researches say about this segment, an Assocham-PwC report says, that about 40 million customers purchased goods online in the year 2015 and the number is expected to cross the mark of 65 million by the end of 2016. Close to a whopping $250 million has been raised by hyperlocal delivery startups in the past 18 months.
