Chennai based hyper-local delivery startup Genie on Monday announced that it would cease operations due to insufficiency of funds and lack of investor interest. In a Facebook post, the founders announced the decision to close down operations.
“We have been trying very hard to raise a round of funding to sustain operations and for growth. Over time, we courted a lot of investors who made a lot of promises, but none of them materialized,” Genie's founders said in a Facebook post.
"Genie will be delivering its last delight on March 31," they said.
Founded in 2015 by Sreekesh Krishnan, Rakesh Mani and Parth Shah, Genie started off as an on-demand delivery platform for customers. A year after the startup launched Genie for Business to look after on demand, bulk and scheduled orders for restaurants, home bakers and any other business that needed assistance with deliveries.
In October 2015, the startup bagged funding from Wayne Burt Group, a Singapore-based group that invests in oil and gas, aerospace and petrochemicals.
Genie is one among many startups in hyper-local delivery sector who couldn't survive even for two years since starting their operations. During 2014 several delivery startups raised funds and in a bid to offer instant satisfaction to customers, many dispense out discounts and offers, burning cash to acquire customers. While Sequoia and SAIF backed Peppertap, which was known as India’s third-largest e-grocer, shut down its online grocery business to focus on logistics, Grofers rolled back operations in nine cities and others like LocalBanya, GrocShop, LazyLad and MovinCart simply pulled the plug on their business.
Related Reading - 20 Indian Startups That Died Young in 2016
A study done by Xeler8 revealed that in India nearly one in two startups shuts down.
[Top Image - Genie founders in earlier days; Via - The Hindu]
“We have been trying very hard to raise a round of funding to sustain operations and for growth. Over time, we courted a lot of investors who made a lot of promises, but none of them materialized,” Genie's founders said in a Facebook post.
"Genie will be delivering its last delight on March 31," they said.
Founded in 2015 by Sreekesh Krishnan, Rakesh Mani and Parth Shah, Genie started off as an on-demand delivery platform for customers. A year after the startup launched Genie for Business to look after on demand, bulk and scheduled orders for restaurants, home bakers and any other business that needed assistance with deliveries.
In October 2015, the startup bagged funding from Wayne Burt Group, a Singapore-based group that invests in oil and gas, aerospace and petrochemicals.
Genie is one among many startups in hyper-local delivery sector who couldn't survive even for two years since starting their operations. During 2014 several delivery startups raised funds and in a bid to offer instant satisfaction to customers, many dispense out discounts and offers, burning cash to acquire customers. While Sequoia and SAIF backed Peppertap, which was known as India’s third-largest e-grocer, shut down its online grocery business to focus on logistics, Grofers rolled back operations in nine cities and others like LocalBanya, GrocShop, LazyLad and MovinCart simply pulled the plug on their business.
Related Reading - 20 Indian Startups That Died Young in 2016
A study done by Xeler8 revealed that in India nearly one in two startups shuts down.
[Top Image - Genie founders in earlier days; Via - The Hindu]
Advertisements