While India’s fast commerce has become synonymous with 10-minute delivery, it’s the hottest game for start-ups and investors – FirstClub A slower, more carefully planned route is being taken. However, the eight-month-old startup tripled its valuation just three months after launching its app.
The Bangalore-based startup, valued at $120 million in a currency of $120 million, raised $23 million in a Series A funding round (including more than 90% of equity, the rest of the debt) co-lead investors Accel and RTP Global. The round also saw participation from the Blume Founders Foundation, VC at 2 a.m., Paramark Ventures and Aditya Birla Ventures. The new fund comes just eight months after FirstClub raised $8 million in seed rounds in December at a value of $40 million.
E-commerce in India – the world’s second largest shopper base – Soaring to about $60 billion According to a recent Bain & Company report, the total commodity value (GMV) is expected to grow 18% annually and reach $17 billion by 2030. It is expected that by the end of the decade, every tenth of retail funds in India will be spent online. In the past few months, the market has shifted from traditional e-commerce where delivery usually takes two to three days, Super fast implementation – Mainly driven by the rise of fast business startups. This transformation even prompts the incumbent to be like Amazon and Flipkart owned by Walmart Enter the competition with your own fast delivery products.
However, FirstClub saw a gap: The startup bets on quality, not racing is the fastest. It aims at quality products and well-curated experiences, targeting the top 10% of Indian households (about 20 million households).
The startup, launched in June, currently offers four dark stores to customers in several areas of Bangalore, known as the “club”. Dark Store is a wealthy center that looks like a retail store but only offers online orders. The company stocks over 4,000 well-planned inventory preservation units from brands of packaged food, fresh produce, bakeries, dairy and nutrition.
“Based on data from the last three months, it’s clear that consumers are happy to wait for them to get very differentiated choices, quality products, differentiated services and a very handheld experience,” said Ayyappan Re, founder and CEO of FirstClub.
Executives told TechCrunch that the startup currently has an average order value of Rs 1,050 (about $12), about twice the value of the leading fast trading platform, and a 60% repeat purchase rate.
TechCrunch Events
San Francisco
|
October 27-29, 2025
The founder runs with his own experience. Prior to founding FirstClub in December, Ayyappan spent more than a decade at Flipkart, the largest local e-commerce company in India, leading the team at its subsidiary Myntra (fashionable e-commerce website) and Cleartrip (travel booking website). He was previously a member of the ITC team, an Indian consumer goods giant, with a focus on strategies to expand grocery market and export coverage. These experiences helped him quickly transform FirstClub from concept to business.
“In six months, we were able to build an end-to-end technology platform,” he recalled.
The startup also built its own supply chain network and partnered with selected brands to offer exclusive products. Currently, 60% of the products on its platform are exclusive products.
“We are not indexing on delivery speeds, but we are saying that the product you get here, whether offline or online, you can’t find it.”
FirstClub also hires third-party consumer groups to test products that will feature on its platform.
“If I take the example of pane (cheese in Hindi), the 20 products of this consumer panel will be tested by very different branded cheese brands, which is as blind tests, whether the best, i.e. the best products, these products will go to the platform,” these products will go to the platform. ”
The startup’s journey with groceries as the first category begins. It found that despite the intense competition in this field, most fast business companies, including Blinkit and Swiggy’s Instamart, offer groceries through their platform, there is room for differentiated quality projects.
Fresh fund-driven expansion plan
FirstClub’s goal is to expand groceries into new categories including children’s food, pet food and nutrients. Ayyappan told TechCrunch that it will venture into the cafe over the next 30 days and adopts a differentiated approach that will not include preheated food but freshly made items.
The startup also plans to enter the home and general merchandise categories over the next six months. The founders say this will include home decoration, home essentials, home care, furniture, and even utensils.
FirstClub has a customer base of 70% of women. As a result, the company not only curates products tailored to it, but will also expand to the categories most relevant to its needs.
Ayyappan shared more customer insights, telling TechCrunch that FirstClub’s customers’ total annual revenue is Rs 1.5 lakh (approximately $17,000). The startup prevents customers from checking whether their cart is worth less than 199 (approximately $2.40) to select the right customer.
Additionally, the app is designed for browser-led experiences rather than search-led apps, which is typical of most fast business platforms. This approach encourages users to spend more time exploring options, improving retention rates and enabling startups to provide a curated experience based on customer insights. The founders say the startup also bans its supply chain products, which contain more than 200 ingredients that could harm consumers.
“Everyone likes it, ‘I’ll offer a lot of options for consumers to choose what they want, and the platform has ownership – saying that every product it sells has to be top-notch quality.”
The founder said FirstClub essentially hopes to bring experiences from North America’s retailers such as Costco, Whole Foods, Trader Joe’s and TJ Maxx.
“We want to attend consumers across multiple channels and multiple platforms,” he said. “It could be a slotted delivery, subscription delivery, offline, so all of that will appear in the picture.”
With new funding, the startup also plans to expand its club to 35, covering most of Bengaluru this year, and then entering the new city.
“We may also invite consumers to our conference halls to show how this is hygienic [they are]that’s how we maintain quality. ” Ayyappan said.
The startup currently has 185 employees, including 75 employees.
