23-05-2025
Subscription-based grocery provider Otipy shuts shop; impacts 300 employees
Subscription-based grocery provider
Otipy
shut operations last week, impacting around 300 employees in addition to gig workers, including
delivery partners
, said people aware of the development. Founder and CEO Varun Khurana is understood to have told the company's employees about the decision last week at a townhall meeting.
The WestBridge Capital-backed startup has reportedly withheld salary payments to employees as well as delayed payments to vendors.
This development comes amid a downturn for grocery subscription services, which have struggled since the rise of
quick commerce
platforms. The rapid 10-minute delivery model has also impacted sales at traditional kirana stores.
It raised around a total of $44 million in equity and debt, as per data intelligence platform Tracxn. Its last financing was a $2 million debt by Nuvama Asset Management.
Khurana did not respond to text messages seeking comment.
Live Events
Founded in June 2020, the
Delhi-NCR
based business-to-business-to-consumer (B2B2C) startup was set up as a subsidiary of Khurana's
agritech
firm Crofarm India. It connected end consumers to farmers via a community of resellers who handled the last-mile delivery of fruits and vegetables operating in Mumbai and Delhi-NCR.
Discover the stories of your interest
Blockchain
5 Stories
Cyber-safety
7 Stories
Fintech
9 Stories
E-comm
9 Stories
ML
8 Stories
Edtech
6 Stories
As per Tracxn, the company generated a revenue of around Rs 164 crore in FY24, up from Rs 115 crore a year ago.
The development was first reported by Inc42.
Due to challenges in the grocery subscription model because of the rise in quick commerce, BBdaily, the subscription service by Tata Digital-backed firm BigBasket, which used to run as a separate app was merged into the main BigBasket app in September last year.
However, direct-to-consumer (D2C) fresh foods brand Country Delight, which offers direct-to-home delivery of fresh food essentials like milk, ghee, paneer, fruits, and vegetables, continues to operate under a daily subscription model.
Meanwhile, the quick commerce industry has
grown to $ 7.1 billion in FY25
from $300 million in FY22, as per the Indus Valley 2025 report by venture capital firm Blume Ventures.
Otipy is the latest among startups that have shut operations. Insurtech startup
Kenko Health
, upskilling and job finding platform
Bluelearn
,
social media app Koo
, artificial intelligence-led software startup
Nintee
and spiritual tech startup
My Tirth India
, sales software provider for product-led companies
Toplyne
have folded up over the past few months
