Kart4U, a tech-driven startup that aims to empower street cart vendors by phygitising them for their systematic growth, has raised ₹5 crores from Startup Stairs, a seed-stage accelerator dedicated to developing the skills ecosystem in India. Kart4U is India’s first kart-to-home delivery service that gives a marketplace to the millions of unorganised street vendors to increase their sales and join the Digital India movement.
Startup Stairs announced 15 startups as the winners of their ‘Growth Acceleration Program with 4i’ under the aegis of the National Skill Development Corporation. The winners were awarded seed funding starting from ₹25 lakh to 5 crore.
Preet Sandhuu, Director, Startup Stairs said the company envision creating a startup ecosystem where there will be the scope of Aadhaar-linked digital verifications of beneficiaries to mitigate the risk of duplicate and fraud accounts and to achieve a reliable and fail-safe digital ecosystem. This methodology will help startups to create an impact on the masses and build brand integrity globally, said Sandhuu.
The 15 winning startups were chosen out of 150 nominations from across the country. The highest seed funding of ₹5 crores was awarded to Kart4u. Funding of ₹2 crores went to R Sai, a tech-driven aggregator platform that aims to upskill the logistics workforce with the inclusion of certified drivers and support staff. ₹1 crore was awarded to RATH, a dedicated e-platform that acts as an aggregator of skilled and certified auto and taxi drivers via its app.
Bharti Sahu, Founder, Kart4U said the digital world is dominated by e-commerce giants and large grocery aggregators, while street vendors were being left behind.
“We at Kart4U are on a mission to level the playing field for these unorganised street vendors by helping them upskill and avail micro-loans to grow their venture as self-reliant entrepreneurs,” said Sahu.