Baxi, a Gurugram-based bike taxi service provider, has now pivoted to a hyperlocal delivery service provider. For this, the company has already partnered with two FMCG companies.
The company is reportedly in final stages of launching its hyperlocal delivery service, which should go live from January 2019. It has tied-up with Patanjali Industries and Mother Dairy to launch its new service.
As part of the pivot, Baxi will rebrand as B-fresh, and will be delivering goods, across the dairy, fruits and vegetables, drugs and other household items to consumers spread across Gurgaon and certain parts of Delhi.
For this new business model, B-Fresh has brought on board 800 delivery executives on to its platforms, and through its partnership with Mother Dairy, will deliver products from over 2,000 stores. On the other hand, Patanjali, one of the country’s fastest growing FMCG companies, has 5,000 stores spread across 200 towns and cities, with over 800 stock keeping units.
Baxi was founded by Ashutosh Johri and Manu Rana in 2015. The company shut down its bike taxi services in mid-2017 because of unviable unit economics, lack of consumer demand and an uncertain regulatory environment. So far, the startup has raised around $1.5 million from well-known early-stage investors.
In the hyperlocal delivery segment, B-Fresh will be competing against some well-funded players such as BigBasket — backed by Chinese giant Alibaba, and Grofers, which is backed by Japan-based SoftBank.
