Bharat Pulgam, who is trying to build his company in the competitive food-delivery market, has raised $1.8 million from well-known venture capitalists.
His four-year-old company, Pikup, has added customers and retail partners but has yet to become profitable.
"We're still trying to figure that out," Pulgam said. "Revenue is minimal."
Pikup started as a service to deliver on college campuses. When campuses shut down during the pandemic, it switched to a variation of the "milkman" model of stacking as many deliveries as possible to the same neighborhood on the same days of the week.
"We give customers a dependable schedule, kind of like the milkman," Pulgam said. "By doing that, the accuracy, quality of service and efficiency of delivery improves.''
By having customers schedule in advance, Pikup, in theory, is better at filling the vehicle and using the driver's time. It also is the marketer for client companies by pitching discounted specials to repeat customers in the same neighborhoods.
Instead of a delivery charge, the merchant then shares part of the sale with Pikup, Pulgam said.
Pikup offers weekly deliveries across the Twin Cities from merchants such as Lunds & Byerlys, Cub Foods, Target, Costco and Trader Joe's.
