GoodGudi, a lifestyle retailer specializing in fast-moving household and consumer goods, raised a seed fund led by AC Ventures.
Some high-net-worth individuals (HNIs), April Ventures, Kunal Shah, Aprameya Radhakrishna, and other angel investors have also invested in the venture.
The startup, however, did not disclose the amount raised.
Anurag Gupta, Sagar Yarnalkar, and Chandan Kumar founded GoodGudi in June. Gupta and Yarnalkar founded the e-grocery company Dailyninja and, later acquired by BigBasket. Kumar is a co-founder of the manufacturing and retail firm Setner.
The firm will be offline-led and plans to open more than 40 retail stores in the next 24 months, contending with Chinese retailer Miniso, which runs over 220 stores in India. Products will be sold in travel accessories, gifts, kitchenware, stationery, kids’ toys, home goods, fashion accessories, and personal care.
The company will spend the first six months setting up and operating seven to eight stores, with the first three expected to be operational in Bengaluru by the end of October, according to Yarnalkar. The company plans to switch to a franchise after the 20th store entirely.
“The idea first came when we were discussing Miniso’s success in India, and after doing market research on their stores across the country, we saw they were making about Rs 20-25 lakh per month, on average. More importantly, the gross margins were very high, around 70%”, Yarnalkar said in an interaction with sources.
“As opposed to the likes of Dmart, where you operate on pricing, in the fast-moving lifestyle model you are competing on utility and aesthetics… we are going for an offline-first model because often these are impulse purchases,” he added.
About 15–20% of the company’s sales will probably come from online sources like its website and retailers like Amazon and Flipkart, says Yarnalkar.
