DealShare’s risky reset puts it head-to-head with retail heavyweights

The six-year-old startup, backed by venture capital firm Tiger Global, plans to scale its retail operations beyond its core markets of Jaipur and Kolkata by making significant investments in setting up its supply chain and distribution network in neighboring cities, Singh said in an interview.

“Our approach over the next few months is to deepen our presence in our strong markets, strengthen supply chains and intensify distribution networks and move into similar cities of Rajasthan, West Bengal and Uttar Pradesh like Kanpur, Allahabad and Lucknow,” Singh said.

But the expansion is unlikely to be rapid. According to Singh, DealShare is carefully loosening its B2B business muscle even as it builds a consumer-facing playbook from scratch; it’s a transition that requires designing region-specific strategies to keep up with ever-changing consumer behavior.

“All regions have different consumption patterns. Take North India for example. In cities with gated communities like Gurugram, the concentration of other fast-track players is very high. But in smaller cities like Jaipur and Lucknow, this is not exactly the case and that is where the real opportunities lie,” Singh added.

new strategy

Over the past two years, DealShare has gone through many strategic inflection points as it tried to keep an unsustainable business model afloat. In mid-2022, it moved from social commerce to a B2B procurement model, then began another shift towards a consumer-facing value retail play in late 2023. The period was marked by repeated layoffs and reduced operations as the company worked to cut costs and stabilize its business.

DealShare has raised nearly $400 million to date from backers including Tiger Global Management, AlphaWave Global and Unilever Ventures. It was last valued at $1.7 billion in January 2022, following an extended Series E fundraising of $45 million from the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (ADIA).

According to Singh, these milestones came after the realization that scaling was a challenging proposition due to the nature of enterprise e-commerce, given its tight margins and credit intensity. “It was clear [by 2023] I don’t think B2B is a model built to scale profitably.”

Singh’s appointment in early 2024 reflects the company’s attempt to rely on experienced retail leadership. The former CEO of Big Bazaar, he was brought in after DealShare co-founders Vineet Bora and Sankar Bora resigned in November 2023 amid restructuring, layoffs and increased investor scrutiny. The firm’s third co-founder, Sourjyendu Medda, left in January 2024, marking a definitive break from the founding phase. The fourth co-founder, Rajat Shikhar, left the startup in December 2025, according to his profile on professional networking platform LinkedIn.

DealShare’s B2B model is supply-focused kirana (retail) stores and small retailers sell packaged consumer staples through a technology-driven purchasing and distribution network. The new business-to-consumer (B2C) model focuses on selectively serving private label and consumer retail operations.

Of course, India’s flash trade market will grow three times than expected ₹around 64,000 crore in 2024-25 ₹2 trillion by 2027-28, according to CareEdge Ratings’ July report.

new challenges

But the pivot places DealShare in a crowded and unforgiving arena. On one side, DMart (Avenue Supermarts Ltd) faces the scale and cost discipline of Vishal Mega Mart and Reliance Retail’s flash commerce venture JioMart, which is rapidly reducing order fulfillment times and expanding delivery radius in many urban areas. On the other hand, Blinkit, Zepto and InstaMart are now in II. and III. It competes with speed-based expectations shaped by fast-paced business players making inroads into tier-1 cities.

“This is one of the most crowded stages value retail has seen in India,” said Madhur Singhal, managing partner and CEO of management consultancy firm Praxis Global Alliance.

“With organized value players scaling and fast trading platforms blurring the line between convenience and price, new entrants face diminishing margins for error. Differentiation today is less about discounts and more about supply chain discipline and hyperlocal execution,” Singhal said. he said.

Moreover, the transition from a B2B to a consumer-facing model can be structurally difficult, even if it seems operationally contiguous. “While B2B models incorporate relatively predictable demand, B2C models must continually stimulate consumer demand, resulting in higher customer acquisition costs and greater volatility.”

An ace up your sleeve

DealShare’s consumer pivot is closely tied to the expansion of its private label portfolio, which the company believes is central to making the economy work.

The firm has nearly a dozen in-house brands in essentials and personal care; this allows it to control pricing, margins, and supply much more tightly than a market-driven model would allow. This includes Chemko (home care), Sampoorti (staples), Home First (home and kitchen) and X One (personal care).

DealShare’s Singh said, “In our strongest markets, we plan to invest further in private brands and expand the number of assortments in each category. The idea is to offer customers quality products at a reasonable price. We are seeing a very good response to our private brands because the customers we serve are value-conscious and keen.” he said.

Private brands now account for almost a quarter of the firm’s revenue. Firm’s operating income down 75% y-o-y in 2023-24 ₹500 crore, managed to reduce losses ₹167 crore ₹502 crore a year ago.

But this strategy increases implementation risks, as private brands demand scale, consistent quality and sustained consumer trust to compete with established national brands, according to Praxis’ Singhal.

“Our private investment analysis shows that private labels become meaningful value adders in B2C, but not at the point of launch, but after brand-led repeat behavior stabilizes,” Singhal said, adding that the difference may take a long time to show up in results.

But Singh believes private label assortments have been making an impact since the B2B days and have the potential to impact B2C business. “Pricing strategies can be realigned according to consumption habits, helping us deliver better value for premium products and at the same time protect our margins.”