Instant delivery startup RaRa Delivery bags US$3.25m in funding

SINGAPORE-FOUNDED RaRa Delivery has obtained US$3.25 million in funding led by Surge and Indonesia's East Ventures. Surge is Sequoia Capital India's rapid scale-up programme for startups in India and South-east Asia.

RaRa Delivery's funding is also supported by 500 Startups, Angel Central, GK Plug and Play and angel investors Royston Tay and Yang Bin Kwok, the startup said in a press statement on Wednesday.

Founded in July 2019, the instant delivery startup specialises in one to three-hour deliveries for e-commerce businesses. Its founder, Karan Bhardwaj, previously managed the end-to-end e-commerce supply chain at Unilever across South-east Asia and Australasia.

Unlike express logistics infrastructure which focuses on one-to-one deliveries, RaRa Delivery uses batching technology to do "many-to-many" deliveries within a few hours. Doing so allows drivers to earn more in fewer hours, it said.

The startup counts grocery players such as Sayurbox, as well as healthtech company Alodoktor as key customers. It will focus on integrating its services into all major online marketplaces in South-east Asia to allow sellers to offer instant and same-day deliveries to customers, it said.

Mr Bhardwaj said the company's vision of creating an ecosystem that allows e-commerce marketplaces and sellers to provide a premium customer experience to their end consumers is now becoming a reality, starting first in Indonesia.