In a first, Google invests $12 mn in Bengaluru based Dunzo (Image Source Reuters)

Google made its first direct investment in an Indian start-up, acquiring a small stake in Bengaluru-based daily task management app — Dunzo. The start-up secured about $12-million funding from Google in its series B funding round. The investment is part of Google’s Next Billion Users (NBU) commitment and was also participated by existing investors — Blume Ventures and Aspada Investment Advisors.

In a post in Linkedin, Tom Hyland, co-founder and partner, Aspada Investment Advisors, wrote, “Aspada couldn’t be more proud of Kabeer and the Dunzo team for closing this funding round and bringing Google Inc. in to scale and propel the company to greater heights, both in service offerings and new geographies. This is a big win all around and a milestone for India’s entrepreneurial ecosystem”.

Founded in 2015 by Ankur Aggarwal, Dalvir Suri, Mukund Jha and Kabeer Biswas, Dunzo is a chat-based task management app that allows users to create to-do lists through its app and fulfils a wide variety of petty tasks such as picking up food or grocery or their belongings.

Currently Dunzo is operational in Bengaluru. Dunzo was initially launched on WhatsApp in 2015 and has raised $2 million from Blume Ventures and Aspada. It is currently handling 3,500-4,000 tasks a day. The platform leverages both artificial intelligence and human operators to provide daily based household solutions.