South African grocery delivery startup Zulzi receives R30m from JSE-listed company.

South African online grocery delivery startup, Zulzi has received R30-million from a JSE-listed company.

The platform allows users to get direct access to thousands of grocery items through a mobile app. The app then lets customers build their grocery lists and purchase items without visiting a store. Trained shoppers handpick and deliver the items.

In an interview with a media company, one of the founders, Vutlharhi Valoyi said that the investment ended in March but the money only landed in the startup’s account last week. However, he did not disclose who the exact investor was.

Besides the investment, the startup has developed the Checkers’ Sixty60 app.

Valoyi said the app which was completed last year has helped to bring cash into the business.

Since its launch, the app has been downloaded 100 000 times and is currently serving Pretoria, Johannesburg, Cape Town, and Durban.

About 99% of the startup’s orders are made through the mobile app while only 1% are made on the web app.

The startup began selling second-hand books and added electronics as well as offering delivery and groceries.

In the first year, the business turned R5-million in revenue .“That encouraged me, that this online thing can work,” Valoyi said.

The startup charges a service fee ranging from 0% to 12.5%, depending on who the retailer is.

Also, a flat fee of R45 is levied on all deliveries. Thus, deliveries are limited to within a 6km radius of the nearest grocery retailer.

Currently, the company processes about 2000 orders a day of which 70 percent are from Gauteng. In March only the startup had R1-million in sales a per day.

The Johannesburg-based startup was founded in 2013 by Vutlharhi Valoyi and co-founder Michael Netshipise who joined after the launch of the platform in 2016.