ElasticRun, the B2B e-commerce unicorn backed by Prosus and SoftBank, is making a strategic pivot. The company, known for helping FMCG and grocery brands reach remote rural India, is now betting big on its quick commerce vertical to drive growth and steer towards profitability.
Quick Commerce: The New Growth Engine
According to founder and CEO Sandeep Deshmukh, the emergence of quick commerce defined 2025 for the Pune-based firm. Brands have recognized the direct link between delivery speed and customer experience, leading them to overhaul their supply chains. ElasticRun decided to build last-mile capacities to meet this demand.
The company is aggressively expanding its network of dark stores with a clear goal: to offer two-to-four-hour deliveries in tier-2 and tier-3 towns. This move effectively bridges the gap between its traditional rural reach and the high-speed fulfillment expected in urban areas. Deshmukh revealed that this vertical has the potential to account for 40-50% of ElasticRun's overall shipment volume by the end of FY26, a massive jump from its current single-digit share.
Financial Turnaround and Strategic Shifts
This strategic focus comes on the back of improved financial performance. In FY25, ElasticRun significantly narrowed its net loss to ₹145 crore from ₹360 crore in the previous year. Operating revenue also grew by 10% year-on-year to ₹2,653 crore. Deshmukh attributes this improvement to increased efficiencies in logistics and a sharper focus on regional brands over large national players.
Over the past two years, the company has worked to improve its unit economics. A key part of this strategy involves pushing its private labels, especially in tier-2 cities where consumers are becoming more experimental. Private brands can command margins as high as 25%, compared to just 5% for other regional brands, offering a substantial boost to revenue prospects.
The Broader Market Opportunity and Expert View
For merchants, quick commerce has evolved from a convenience to a critical distribution channel. 'Instant gratification' is now a competitive necessity to capture households willing to pay for speed. ElasticRun enables these merchants to tap into impulse-driven, high-margin categories like food and home essentials.
Madhur Singhal of Praxis Global Alliance notes that faster deliveries allow B2B customers to maintain lower inventories, making them more capital efficient—similar to how just-in-time systems revolutionized manufacturing. However, he cautions that firms must maintain robust systems and control manpower and vehicle costs to keep expenses in check.
The market opportunity is vast. Technology-enabled B2B marketplaces are projected to represent a $200 billion opportunity in India by 2030, up from $20 billion in 2022, according to Bessemer Venture Partners.
Founded in 2016 by Sandeep Deshmukh, Shitiz Bansal, and Saurabh Nigam, ElasticRun supports a wide network including over 900 warehouses and 50,000 on-ground partners. With $330 million in funding secured in February 2022 at a $1.5 billion valuation, the company states it has sufficient capital and is focused on delivering its best financial performance yet. The current financial year is expected to bring ElasticRun closer to profitability, with quick commerce firmly at the core of its strategy.
