Technology platform Jhakaas raises undisclosed amount in pre-series A funding from USA

Jhakaas Technologies, a technology-driven platform that “Enables local businesses” to create a presence online, raised an undisclosed amount in a pre-series A funding from a USA based investor Mr Amen Dhyllon. The motive of the fund raiser is for technological enhancement and up-gradation of the application and expansion of the network throughout India.

The next generation mobile app facilitates for the day-to-day needs of the consumer entailing services such as grocery shopping, restaurant hunting, on call cakes and sweet delivery, vegetable shopping, wine shops, ordering medicines and much more. The app includes more than 300 categories. Currently, the company has over 1,00,000 merchants, and the plan is to add 5,00,000 merchants by year end March 2018. Jhakaas is currently operating in Mumbai, New Delhi, Bangalore, Chennai, Indore, Hyderabad, Ahmadabad and Pune. 

The platform is available on Android, iOS and web versions will be launching soon. Presently, the app is operational in two languages i.e English, Hindi and will integrate all regional languages.

Commenting on the occasion Bharat Mandot, Founder, Jhakaas Technologies states, “With a proper capital backing, Jhakaas can make a substantial impact on the entire retail ecosystem by adding more Kirana shops and owners; we aim the unorganised market under one umbrella. As more and more merchants discover its utilities, Jhakaas is expected to grow exponentially in the near future adding a million customers in a very short span of time. The fund would also help us expand our presence in numerous states throughout India. Since Jhakaas has an innovative business model, by charging a fixed fee to merchants unlike other players in the market, we are sure to succeed with a strong technological back-up which would help us enhance our quality as well as the level of service for the merchants.”

Earlier in the year, the company had raised Rs 1 crore (around $154,000) in seed funding from a clutch of investors including Mumbai-based management consultancy firm Stelcore Management Services Private Limited, Malini Patel, country manager, Bloomberg Data Services, CP Sanadhya, director at housing finance company India Shelter Finance, and Anjani Prasad, managing director at colour and specialty chemicals company Archroma India. 

Jhakaas competes with the likes of Justdial, Goodbox, ShopX and NowFloats.

To help increase the merchant base and as a small CSR initiative on their part, Jhakaas has come up with a Digital awareness program providing technology updates to its merchants. The program aims to educate merchants on different technology enabled solutions, that merchants today have available in the market. It will help the merchants to understand the current business scenario, the role and importance of technology in today’s business environment and the various solutions available in the market. In the current competitive scenario, this program will help merchants get the organised E-com segment.

Jhakaas is trying to link this initiative with Skill India since it is a category of training and awareness which is improving the standard of business.

Jhakaas – a way to easy living is a technology driven platform that aims to enable local business. The next generation mobile app provides for the day-to-day needs of the consumer entailing services such as ease in grocery shopping, restaurant hunting, on call cakes and sweet delivery, vegetable shopping, wine shops, ordering medicines and much more. They aim to penetrate the unorganised sector through a comprehensive and user-friendly application that can be used by medium and small scale merchants and customers alike. Jhakaas works on a minimum maintenance and fixed reasonable charges model with merchants so as to provide affordable and profitable deals to the vendors. The process of merchant enrollment is easy and contains no additional charges. Vendors can decide their own Service level’s (SLA) and can collect the payments in their own bank accounts through mPOS / digital payment methods. On the other hand, the customer can choose from an array of merchants based on their preferences. The app was developed to provide ease in business through advanced competitive technology and also give the small & medium level merchants a competitive edge
.

The app also provides value added services to the offline business operators (merchants) to bring them under a technological framework. They serve as a mediator and not as an aggregator to the merchants. The customers are now moving towards cashless and quick delivery methods therefore through this app, Jhakaas is trying to help save the business and growth path for small & medium merchants. In phase one, the app has tied up with more than 30,000 merchants in metros like Mumbai, Delhi & Bangalore and is expected to grow its network to more than one lakh merchants in the coming six months. Jhakaas is eager to explore the Tier-II & Tier-III cities as they believe there is untouched potential in these cities that can be explored.