Insights

Long-form analysis for investors on local commerce infrastructure: commerce operating systems, hyperlocal delivery economics, merchant SaaS, marketplace network effects and how to diligence the category.

• 04 Aug 2026The local commerce operating system, explainedA local commerce operating system runs the whole operation of a local business — catalogue, orders, payments, customers, delivery and discovery — on one shared software core. Here is why the category exists and what it takes to build one.
• 04 Aug 2026Why hyperlocal commerce is a platform opportunity, not an app oneHyperlocal commerce in India has been solved category by category and city by city. The unsolved problem is the platform underneath. An investor's view of where the value accrues.
• 04 Aug 2026Merchant SaaS and the shift from commission to subscriptionLocal businesses have historically refused to pay for software. That has changed, and the reason is not price — it is that the software finally does the whole job. A look at merchant SaaS economics.
• 04 Aug 2026Why hyperlocal delivery needs better infrastructure, not more ridersLast-mile delivery in small cities fails on utilisation, not on supply. Batch routing across categories is the structural fix — and it is only available to platforms that run more than one category.
• 04 Aug 2026Network effects in local commerce, and the one most models missClassic marketplace network effects are two-sided and local. Multi-category platforms get a third effect that compounds across verticals — and it is the one that decides who wins a small city.
• 04 Aug 2026The economics of marketplace businesses, and where they breakCommission, subscription, delivery margin and financing behave very differently as a marketplace scales. A practical breakdown of each, and which combination survives contact with a small city.
• 04 Aug 2026Local commerce in India — why the enabling layers are finally completeNothing about local commerce infrastructure needed to be invented. Smartphones, UPI, WhatsApp and a trained delivery workforce were built by others. What is missing is the software on top.
• 04 Aug 2026How to diligence a hyperlocal commerce companyThe metrics that separate infrastructure from a marketing story in local commerce — and the specific questions worth asking before a seed cheque.