Team Startupcity

• FirstClub raises $23M Series A funding at $120 Milllion valuation within 3 months of launch
• Accel & RTP Global lead the round; Blume Founders Fund, 2am VC, Paramark Ventures & Aditya Birla Ventures participate
• Founded by ex-Cleartrip CEO Ayyappan R, FirstClub positions itself as India’s first ‘quality-first’ quick commerce platform

Bengaluru-headquartered FirstClub has raised Series A funding of $23 million at a valuation of around $120 million (Rs 1,050 crore) less than three months since its inception. Accel and RTP Global led the round, with participation from Blume Founders Fund, 2am VC, Paramark Ventures, and Aditya Birla Ventures.

Launched by Ayyappan R, who is an executive at Flipkart and Myntra but was also the CEO of Cleartrip, FirstClub is positioning itself as India's first 'quality-first' quick commerce platform a conscious differentiation from rivals like Blinkit, Zepto, and Swiggy Instamart. "Quick commerce today is speed-oriented, not standards-oriented. That's what we're changing at FirstClub", Ayyappan said in a statement.

'Each and every product that you see on our platform is tested, vetted, and curated'. Customers should not be forced to choose between quality and convenience. Ayyappan positions FirstClub in the context of a larger revolution in Indian retail. Retail has transformed from the mom-and-pop store to the modern trade chain like Big Bazaar, and then to online platforms like Flipkart and Amazon over the past three decades.

Quick commerce, he said, only worked in India, as opposed to other markets, due to the country's distinctive cost structures, availability of labor, and urban density. While incumbents attempted transactional levers, speed, price, and selection, Ayyappan perceived a gap. "If you look at any retail investor report in the last five years, the one category that's really growing is the mid-premium segment", he told.

“Luxury has never been big in India, but people are spending more on quality products whether it’s food, clothes, or home. That is where FirstClub wants to position itself: not as a luxury niche, but as a mass mid-premium retailer. “We’re building for 20 to 30 million households, not one or two million. This is not about niche consumption. Families with Rs 40,000 monthly rents are already buying with us. They desire quality at a reasonable price", Ayyappan said.

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With its launch in June, FirstClub has opened four 'clubhouses' in Bengaluru its revamped dark stores that are cleaner and consumer-friendly. "If you're selling food, you should care about hygiene and cleanliness. If tomorrow I want to invite consumers inside the store, I should be able to. That's not why we don't refer to them as dark stores", said Ayyappan.

The company has already onboarded more than 4,000 handpicked products in packaged food, bakery, dairy, fresh produce, and nutrition, while prohibiting over 200 additives and testing essentials like milk and oils without involving third parties. Early performance data, says Ayyappan, is reporting double the mean order value of competitors and high repeat rates.

The new fund will sponsor 35 more clubhouses till March, and thereafter target to cover all of Bengaluru by Diwali before foraying into new cities. To this, FirstClub will add, along with groceries, a number of other offerings including a café where all food is prepared fresh each day using ingredients retailed on its platform, gifting categories pegged during the Diwali period, and home and kitchen items such as furnishings and decor.

“We want to be the retail destination for the household, not just grocery”, Ayyappan said. “This isn’t about shifting share from someone else it’s about creating a new market for quality everyday products”. For Ayyappan, the ambition is clear: “We’re building for a new India where households deserve better quality, better taste, and no compromises”, he said. This is a 10-year play. As with Costco or Whole Foods in the US is not niche, Indian quality commerce will not be niche as well. It will scale.