tinyowl shuts down operations

Ahead of its speculated merger with RoadRunnr, online food ordering platform TinyOwl has shut down its operations in all cities except Mumbai.

According to earlier merger reports, TinyOwl and RoadRunnr are planning to come up with a single food delivery platform called Runnr.

And Runnr is reportedly supposed to go live in Mumbai very soon and this new development might be a step in that direction.

As per the report, RoadRunnr has bought the brand name of TinyOwl along with its technology, data analytics, sales, support and the management team. However, there has not been an official announcement about the merger from either of two parties.

TinyOwl app, when accessed from any of the regions except Mumbai, shows the message- “temporarily closed for service improvement”. 

However, the company has retained user data and assured its customers that they would return with a better product in the near future.

TinyOwl will continue to deliver food in selected areas of Mumbai, including Churchgate, Colaba, Lower Parel, Mahim, Marine lines, Matunga East, Mumbai Central, Worli and Nariman Point among others.

It was previously operational in cities like Delhi-NCR, Bangalore, Mumbai, Navi Mumbai, Hyderabad, Chennai, Ahmedabad, Jaipur, Nagpur, Lucknow and Chandigarh.

In addition to shutting down its operations, TinyOwl has also asked users to use rewards before 22nd May and has now restricted usage of TinyOwl Rewards. However, the company has said that the money in MyWallet with the company’s app can be used anywhere where Citrus Pay is accepted.

TinyOwl has been struggling to sustain its operations since last year. In November 2015, it shut down its operations in Pune, Hyderabad, Delhi, and Chennai. In the same month, it laid off around 112 employees after laying off around 160 employees in August.

Founded by Harshvardhan Mandad, the online food ordering platform has raised more than $27.67 million in four funding rounds, latest being $7.67 million in Series C round from Matrix Partners and Sequoia Capital.


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