June 30 2022, Bengaluru: Gardening-focused hyperlocal marketplace Urvann has raised Rs.3 crore in a seed round led by the angel investment platform, Inflection Point Ventures (IPV). The funds raised will be utilized for the expansion of operations across the country.
Founded by IIM-Ahmedabad and ISB alums, a husband-wife duo who quit their consulting careers to pursue their passion for plants, Urvann is India’s first hyperlocal marketplace for plants and gardening products. Urvann launched operations in Delhi-NCR in August 2021 to revolutionize the way India buys plants. Urvann provides the largest variety and next-day delivery of fresh plants at the lowest prices by partnering with local nurseries in a city- setting it apart from traditional players who courier plants from one city to another- leading to high delivery costs and suboptimal plant quality due to long transit times.
Within a year of its inception, Urvann has already catered to 15,000+ orders, delivered 100,000 plants in Delhi, and served more than 6,000 happy customers. It is now aiming to expand its operations in major Indian cities including Mumbai, Pune, Bangalore, and Chennai by the end of this year. The company is planning a 10X increase in the monthly GMV by the year-end.
Mitesh Shah, Co-Founder, Inflection Point Ventures says, “Nurturing plants in our homes has been a way of life for all of us. The gardening market is very fragmented, due to which consumers find it difficult and time-consuming to attend to their plants given their busy lives. Urvann offers people a platform for all the gardening requirements from seed to décor at the click of a button, enhancing the whole customer experience. This is a largely untapped market opportunity, especially in the urban pockets.”
Urvann is India’s first hyperlocal gardening marketplace, creating a one-stop store for all gardening products and services by utilizing the unique Content-Community-Commerce concept. Its hyperlocal marketplace approach provides a platform for local plant nurseries to sell their products online and cater to their specific area. The hyperlocal operations ensure that the plants arrive in an excellent state when delivered to customers, without superfluous packing, and at the same pricing as they would be found in a local store. Urvann is currently functioning in Delhi-NCR and will soon expand to other cities in order to achieve its goal of creating true “URBAN VANN.”
Urvann’s unique aggregator model enables them to provide a 10x variety of products at one-fifth the price as compared to other online players. Their hyperlocal and zero packaging deliveries ensure plants reach the customers fresh and healthy, and with minimum harm to the environment. The company has a community-first approach that helps plant lovers across India connect with each other. They have an active and growing community of 25000+ plant parents, who interact with Urvann via their weekly workshops, events, and community groups.
Sambhav Jain, Co-Founder of Urvann says, “Understanding the sheer need to make the entire gardening process seamless for our passionate plant parents who may find it difficult to purchase due to time constraints, proximity to marketplace etc. Urvann has established a one stop online store to cater to all the requirements right from buying fresh plants to gardening products and services. The platform onboards the local vendors/nurserymen who can extend their service through Urvann, thus enabling them to scale their business quickly.
He further added, “With the funds raised, Urvann will be utilizing this to rapidly expand operations to other Indian metros and support our next phase of growth. By 2025, we aspire to be present in all Indian cities and take our services to all plant lovers across India. We look forward to IPV support to help us strategically grow.”
The Indian gardening retail market is an INR 20,000 crore market and is growing rapidly at a CAGR of 15%. The primary reasons for this growth are an increasing number of millennials becoming active plant parents; and secondly, the use of plants in the gifting and décor industry. Plants have replaced bouquets and artificial showpieces at homes and offices. People are actively realizing the benefits of having plants around them, as it also has a positive impact on our mental health.
