52 mins ago
Investors Turn to Shared Infrastructure as Quick Commerce Expands
Quick-commerce companies deliver products very quickly.
New companies are starting to offer this service for special categories, such as healthcare or fashion.
Instead of every company building its own warehouses and delivery teams, shared infrastructure companies let many businesses use the same system.
This can save money and help new businesses test whether customers want their products.
Investors like this idea because they do not have to guess which individual category will become successful.
However, basic storage and delivery services may become common and less valuable as more companies enter the market.
Experts say stronger businesses will need special skills, such as managing cold-chain products or predicting demand.
Successful companies may eventually build their own infrastructure, which could keep shared providers' profits modest.
Verticalised quick-commerce startups raised about $150 million in 2025, up from $8 million in 2024.
Investors are backing shared dark stores, warehousing, fulfilment technology and last-mile networks.
Inamo raised $8 million and operates more than 80 dark stores across six cities.
Shared infrastructure can help smaller businesses test demand and expand without building networks themselves.
Analysts warn that basic fulfilment may become commoditised, limiting margins and pricing power.
- Who
- Investors, quick-commerce infrastructure companies, and specialised quick-commerce startups, including Inamo, Fairdeal.Market and DocPharma.
- What
- Investors are funding shared dark stores, warehousing, fulfilment technology and delivery networks for specialised quick-commerce businesses.
- Where
- The networks described operate across cities in India, including six cities served by Inamo and Delhi-NCR served by Fairdeal.Market.
- When
- The article discusses developments in 2025, including funding announcements in March, May and August.
- Why
- Shared infrastructure can reduce the capital required for smaller businesses to enter markets, test demand and expand.
Infrastructure Opportunity
Commoditisation Concerns
Capital efficiency
Infrastructure Opportunity
Shared networks allow specialised companies to scale, test demand and build order density without creating their own dark stores and delivery systems.
Commoditisation Concerns
Companies that eventually succeed may build their own infrastructure based on demand circles, reducing their reliance on shared providers.
Investment risk
Infrastructure Opportunity
Infrastructure gives investors exposure to the growth of vertical quick commerce without requiring them to choose a winning category or business model.
Commoditisation Concerns
The model may remain a relatively modest-margin business because last-mile delivery, warehouse management and standard fulfilment are increasingly commoditised.
Defensible advantages
Infrastructure Opportunity
Infrastructure providers could build stronger positions through category-specific capabilities, demand intelligence, cold chains and complex workflows.
Commoditisation Concerns
Basic warehousing, delivery and fulfilment may lose pricing power as more providers enter the market.
Key facts
- Vertical quick-commerce funding
- About $150 million was raised in 2025, compared with $8 million in 2024.
- Inamo funding
- Raised $8 million in a Series A led by Prime Venture Partners in March.
- Inamo operations
- Operates more than 80 dark stores across six cities, processes more than 1.8 million orders monthly and plans to exceed 200 stores by 2026.
- Dark-store profitability
- A 500 sq ft store may need about 150-200 daily orders, while a 2,000 sq ft store may need about 700 orders, according to a BCG report.
- Fairdeal.Market
- Raised $15 million in May and enables Delhi-NCR kirana stores to replenish more than 1,000 SKUs within 60 minutes.
- DocPharma
- Raised $2 million in August to build 100 compliant dark stores and expand its healthcare fulfilment technology.
- Potential margins
- Devi Prasad Biswal said infrastructure-as-a-service businesses could have EBITDA margins capped at around 10-15%.
Quotes
Archana Jahagirdar
Founder and managing partner of Rukam Capital
“The infrastructure layer of vertical quick commerce primarily is a second-order effect to the growth of quick commerce and the establishment of the quick-commerce commercial model”
financialexpress.com
“Shared fulfilment and dark-store networks can improve capital efficiency by allowing specialised players to scale without building these capabilities from scratch”
financialexpress.com
Sources
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