Top tech investor GGV bets India corner shops can fight Amazon

One of the most successful Silicon Valley-Asia venture capital firms is counting on the humble family-run store that dominates India’s retail landscape to hold its own against Amazon.com and Walmart.

“We’re backing start-ups that provide technology and working capital to make kiranas more efficient, so that these mom-and-pops can become e-commerce and lending enablers in their communities,” Tung said.

From the poshest neighbourhoods to teeming slums, typical Indian kiranas are cramped spaces that can just about fit a king-size bed, but are chock-full of sacks of rice, lentils and dried chilli peppers.

Their floor-to-ceiling shelves are stacked with toothpaste and cooking oil, and their shopfronts festooned with colourful bags of potato chips, tiny sachets of shampoo and pickles. With their personalised service, the stores usually offer doorstep delivery and interest-free credit.

GGV, which has focused almost exclusively on China and the US for two decades, is bullish about India. “We are seeing the same movie played out a little differently in emerging economies,” Tung said. “India can be very big over the next 10 years.” As much as 20 per cent of the US$1.9 billion fund raised by the venture capital firm last year will be allocated to India as well as Southeast Asia.