이 기사는 2019년 10월 22일 08시00분 thebell에 표출된 기사입니다

South Korea's private equity firm STIC Investments and its spun-off venture capital (VC) arm STIC Ventures have invested in Google-backed Indian startup Dunzo.

The Bangalore-based hyper-local delivery startup has raised 45 million dollars in its latest financing round of Series D, where STIC Ventures invested 10 million dollars via its STIC 4th Industrial Revolution Fund together with STIC Investments. Other than STIC, existing investor Google, Indian VC firm Lightbox Ventures and U.S. investment firm 3L Capital also participated in the funding round.

Dunzo is STIC's first Indian portfolio company. The four-year old startup provides on-demand hyper-local delivery services using motorbikes. It delivers a wide range of products, including everything from groceries to medical supplies. The app-based company also operates a pick-up and drop-off service, along with a bike taxi service launched last year. Such comprehensive delivery and transportation services make Dunzo different from other food delivery service providers.

"The Indian market is growing rapidly, yet at the same time, the transportation infrastructure has much room for improvement. That's why we decided to make an investment [in Dunzo]. A wide range of services from a food delivery to an errand service provided by the bike delivery company gives it a competitive advantage over its peers," a STIC official said.

STIC also focused on the fact that Google is seeing a high growth potential for Dunzo. The U.S. Internet search giant took part in this funding round, followed by the 12 million dollars in 2017, which marked its first direct investment in India.

The hyper-local on-demand delivery services market in India is seeing a rapid increase in demand as the household income rises steadily. Industry experts forecast that India's market size is expected to grow close to that of the U.S. and China.

Indian consumers' high demand in delivery services is attributed to low-cost offerings as well as hot weather and the chronic traffic congestion in major Indian cities.

"Dunzo's monthly orders grew to two million this year, with its data management system optimized for service matching. [Dunzo] keeps average delivery time under 30 minutes with a delivery cost of about one dollar. This is an optimized system for the Indian market," said the official.

Dunzo is currently operational in eight Indian cities, including Bangalore, Delhi, Noida, Pune, Gurgaon, Powai, Hyderabad and Chennai. The startup plans to use the fresh proceeds to expand its business in the nation by strengthening its customer base and technology infrastrucrure.

STIC, which has expanded its presence in overseas markets from China and Vietnam to Indonesia, added an Indian company in its portfolio with this investment. STIC Investments has actively invested in overseas businesses via its pan-Asia fund, including Vietnam's Viet Uc Seafood Corporation, camera module producer Cammsys' Vietnamese subsidiary Camsys VINA and Chinese food service company Joyvio Group.

STIC Ventures, which was spun off from STIC Investments last year, also has Malaysian kiosk solution provider i-Serve and Vietnamese e-commerce major Tiki in its portfolio. The VC firm plans to continue to invest in the Indian market.

"We keep looking for other investment opportunities in Indian businesses. India provides a relatively friendly investment environment due to better data management compared to other Southeast Asian markets," said a STIC Ventures official said.

(By reporter Ahn Kyung-ju)