Infosys cofounder Nandan Nilekani has invested a Bengaluru-based startup-10i Commerce Services, which is helping small shops fight online and organised retailers.10i is giving traditional small retail stores a technology platform-ShopX-to fight disruption from e-tailers.
Nilekani invested Rs 25-30 crore in the startup and is the sole investor in it.
As per reports, this is Nilekani's largest investment in a startup after funding around $7.5 million in Sedemac. This is also Nilekani’s 12th investment in a startup.
"Technology was always a passion. I always wanted to use technology to solve problems for India at a large scale. The ambition was always to reach the masses. Always wanted to do something that reaches hundreds of millions of people, not the elite few people who stay in large cities, who have access to a lot more," 10i co-founder Amit Sharma told ET.
"I was reluctant to get involved at first, but they kept cajoling me. And, as I looked deeper at what they were trying, I thought it was extremely interesting," Nilekani told ET, confirming that 10i was the "stealth-mode" startup that he has been helping over the course of the past year.
"What 10i is trying to do with ShopX is provide the traditional, small retailer the same level of technology, logistics, sophistication and supply which ecommerce or organised retail gives. So, that's what attracted me to it - using technology you can aggregate hundreds of thousands of small retailers and give them access to the best products, give them access to the best technology and so on," said Nilekani.