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Startups take DMart route to small towns, catch investor eyes
Mint New Delhi
|July 31, 2025
Last week, India's test cricket captain Shubman Gill was part of a ₹100-crore investment into a supermarket chain that counts Kadapa, a small city in Andhra Pradesh with a population of under 500,000, as its biggest market.
SuperK, which sells groceries at affordable prices similar to that at DMart, Vishal Mega Mart, and Reliance Retail's Smart Bazaar, attracted other marquee investors as well—Flipkart co-founder Binny Bansal's 3State Ventures, and CaratLane founder Mithun Sacheti.
Other similar value-retail chains Apna Mart, Citykart and Aap ka Bazar that are focused on small-town India and have quick-commerce and technology-led operations at their core have also caught the eye of venture capital investors.
Nandan Nilekani's investment firm Fundamentum Partnership, Accel and Peak XV Partners invested $25 million (nearly ₹220 crore) in Bengaluru-based Apna Mart in March. Citykart meanwhile, secured ₹538 crore from TPG NewQuest and A91 Partners in May.
This story is from the July 31, 2025 edition of Mint New Delhi.
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