In a fast commerce market obsessed with speed, an Indian startup first club has convinced investors that quality can be a new opportunity, helping to double its valuation in just nine months after its latest funding round.
The Bengaluru-based startup has raised $55 million in a Series B round co-led by Peak XV Partners and Sofina, valuing the company at $255 million after the investment. That’s up from $120 million when it last raised capital in September 2025. Existing investors Accel, RTP Global and Paramark Ventures also participated. The latest financing brings FirstClub’s total funding to $86 million.
As grocery shopping increasingly moves online, India’s quick-commerce market has expanded rapidly, rising from around $6.2 billion in FY25 to an estimated $11 billion to $12 billion in FY26, according to a recent report by ICICI Securities. Major players have popularized online grocery shopping through increasingly faster deliveries. However, FirstClub is betting that a growing segment of consumers will prioritize quality and product selection over receiving orders as quickly as possible.
Founded in 2024 by former Flipkart executive Ayyappan R, FirstClub operates a curated online grocery platform offering around 4,000 products, about a third of the assortment offered by many quick-commerce rivals. The startup says it performs quality checks on fresh produce, lab tests certain commodities and works with brands to develop exclusive products, as it seeks to position itself as a trusted destination for groceries rather than a quick delivery service.
“People don’t need a very large selection, but they need the right quality selection, delivered consistently every time,” Ayyappan said in an interview.
FirstClub says more than 60% of its customer base is made up of female-headed households. Unlike many quick-commerce platforms, where staples like onions, tomatoes and potatoes dominate sales, Ayyappan said some of FirstClub’s best-selling products include avocados, persimmons and Modi apples, reflecting demand for premium and curated grocery offerings.
The strategy appears to be resonating with early buyers. FirstClub says it crossed 1 million orders and acquired 170,000 homes within a year of its launch in Bengaluru.
The startup currently operates at an annualized gross market value (i.e. the total of all products sold on its platform) of about $50 million, with customers placing more than four orders a month on average and spending about Rs 1,200 (around $13) per order, Ayyappan told TechCrunch.
FirstClub plans to use the fresh capital to expand beyond Bengaluru, where it currently operates 21 stores, and deepen its presence in Hyderabad, where it recently launched three locations. The startup, which directly employs about 220 people, also plans to expand into categories including home and kitchen products, gifts and other household essentials.
Peak
“There will be a specific set of consumers who will gravitate towards a better quality platform that offers reliable products,” Ravishankar told TechCrunch. “As Indians become wealthier and more informed, there will be more and more people making that decision.”
Ravishankar compared the trend to the rise of premium supermarket chains in developed markets, arguing that India’s retail landscape is beginning to fragment beyond a single focus focused on price and convenience.
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