Srikanth
AnKa SumMor, a Sales and Distribution (S&D) platform for FMCG sector has raised INR 3 Cr in a Pre-Series A round led by Inflection Point Ventures, one of India’s largest angel investment platforms in India. The funds raised will be utilized towards scaling business in Hyderabad and Chennai with improved infrastructure, coverage, and branding. The funds will also be used for expanding operations to Bangalore, along with technology development and deployment.
On a journey to disrupt FMCG sales and distribution for emerging brands, AnKa SumMor had launched SumMor Model in 2018 which has added value for brand partners with increased revenue, reduced S&D cost and real time transparent MIS. These features have not only helped the associated businesses grow, but have also triggered the operations of the startup to a higher level, venturing into Chennai and plans to launch Bangalore in FY 21-22.
Vinay Bansal, Founder & CEO, IPV says, “Success of FMCG businesses depends on how well and deep their distribution model is. India is a complex geography and it has taken global FMCG companies decades to cover the entire country by heavily investing in setting the distribution infrastructure. The new age brands don’t have to invest millions in setting up their distribution channel when a company like Anka SuMor can do this for them. A shared distribution network would be mean lower operational costs and better pricing for the consumers. We understand this sector well because of our other investments and were able to align naturally to Anka SuMor’s vision.”
AnKa SumMor is the only plug & play sales & distribution platform for challenger and emerging FMCG brands, acting as a one stop solution for their S&D requirements. The startup serves all retails of FMCG Distribution under one roof via ‘SumMor Model’. It acts as the SPOC to serve all retail channels (national chains, e-commerce, local chains, stand alone super markets, kirana) in a city / state with transparent & real-time structured data leading to market insights for the brands, leading up to 50% S&D Cost reduction for Brands.
It not only offers S&D expertise and technology, but also helps the emerging brands with the intelligence employed by the larger brands. The S&D operations of AnKa SumMor are focused on revenue growth, service consistency, in-outlet executions coupled with 100% transparency for their customers. The entire ecosystem not only provides scale benefits to the organisations at lower S&D costs, but also relieves them from managing multiple distributors and sales teams. It provides real time & transparent S&D MIS and market insights to the brands, while also helping them with value added services like trade/consumer activation and new product launches.
Ashok George, Founder & CEO, AnKa SumMor says, “Delighted to make through the rigorous evaluation process of IPV, importantly the value given to founders during the process. Apart from the investment, IPV augments value through an ecosystem of business leaders across various aspects of business, which we intend to leverage to expand and enhance our thinking, capabilities and execution levels, thereby create value for all our stakeholders. This investment will predominantly go into building the tech stack, critical to manage complexity at scale efficiently & effectively, enhance predictive capabilities and provide market insights to brand partners. We will also invest on increasing S&D infrastructure and resources to increase number of outlets serviced to deliver growth for existing brand partners, and capacity to add more brands on our platform.”
The FMCG industry is the fourth largest sector in India and is expected to reach $260 billion by end of 2025, along with emerging brands growing at a pace of 2 to 3 times the rate of established brands.
AnKa SumMor has covered quite a few retail channels like e-comm, modern trade, general trade, select institutions & upcountry distributors. It has covered over 2600 relevant stores, working with 10 brands so far – McVities, Yoga Bar, Wai Wai, Paper Boat, Yellow Diamond, Bombay Shaving Company, Spice Story, Budweiser, Om Bhakti, Again Drinks.
