Online tobacco platform Hash raises funding from top startup founders

Direct to consumer marketing (D2C) cigarette brand Hash on August 13 said it had raised $3.5 million in a round led by Armac Investment Fund.

The round also saw participation from angels such as Kunal Shah, founder, Cred, Jitendra Gupta, founder and CEO, Jupiter, Ashneer Grover, co-founder, and managing director, BharatPe, Ankur Jain, founder and CEO, Bira91, Anshoo Sharma co-founder and CEO, MagicPin and Suhail Sameer CEO, BharatPe.

Hash was founded in 2021 by Shwetank Jain. The company aims to promote its products through digital supply chain solutions targeting small shop owners and paanwalas. It is currently present in Delhi-NCR and will be expanding to other key cities in North India in the current fiscal year.

Shwetank Jain, Founder, Hash, said, "Tobacco industry has a set of traditional players and aged brands. However, there is a large addressable market for freshly envisioned products targeted at millennials and distributed efficiently using technology. Also, there is an urgent need to equip the millions of unorganised sellers and paanwalas with the latest technology solutions to aid in their business growth and efficiency."

Hash is also building technology-led products that will help digitise paanwalas and small shop owners' businesses, create a more efficient supply chain, and enable credit access to this segment, thereby boosting sales of its own brand Hash and other new-age brands in the country.