DAAKit dark‑store plan

DAAKit said on April 9 that it raised $138,000 in pre-seed funding to open 25 dark stores in Indian tier-1 and tier-2 cities. (economictimes.indiatimes.com) Inflection Point Ventures led the round. DAAKit said it will also spend the money on technology infrastructure, software integrations, and senior hires across sales, operations, and leadership. (economictimes.indiatimes.com) The company was founded in 2024 by Chandan Singh Ghugtyal. It now operates in Delhi, Gurugram, Mumbai, Bengaluru, and Kolkata, with Lucknow running as a pilot for expansion into smaller cities. (economictimes.indiatimes.com) Dark stores are small urban warehouses that hold inventory closer to customers so orders can be packed and dispatched in minutes instead of from a distant regional warehouse. DAAKit said its model is “asset-light,” meaning it relies on a partner network rather than owning every facility and vehicle itself. (economictimes.indiatimes.com) That puts DAAKit into a market where larger quick-commerce companies are still adding stores at scale. Blinkit said it had 1,301 dark stores after adding 294 in the January-March 2025 quarter and was targeting 2,000 by December 2025. (economictimes.indiatimes.com) HSBC Global Research estimated in January 2025 that India’s quick-commerce industry would end fiscal 2026 with 5,000 to 5,500 dark stores, up from 1,800 collectively in fiscal 2024. The same report said Zepto was likely to expand to 1,000 stores and Swiggy Instamart to about 1,000 before store additions slowed. (livemint.com) DAAKit is pitching itself less as a consumer app and more as logistics infrastructure for brands and sellers. Ghugtyal said the company wants to help businesses “decentralise inventory” and deliver faster through hyperlocal fulfilment centres. (economictimes.indiatimes.com) The startup said it has been growing 15% to 20% a month in orders and revenue while posting double-digit earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortisation. Investor Mitesh Shah said DAAKit had “turn[ed] profitable early,” a claim reported by Indian Startup News and ET Entrepreneur. (indianstartupnews.com, economictimes.indiatimes.com) The next test is whether 25 more sites can lift volume beyond its current metro footprint without the cash burn that has come with bigger rivals’ expansion. For now, DAAKit is trying to prove a smaller network can still work in a market crowded with much larger dark-store operators. (indianstartupnews.com, livemint.com)