Indore-based Anaxee Digital Runners is aiming to be India’s largest last-mile outreach and data collection network with 1 lakh on-demand digital runners or tech-enabled feet-on-street. The firm is aiming to be a de-facto channel for businesses to scale to the next 500 districts and reach Tier 2, 3, and 4 cities and rural areas.

Arti Agrawal, a biometrics expert and co-founder & COO, Anaxee Digital Runners, said India is an assisted economy and Anaxee is providing the last-mile assistance to help a business scale up faster with their countrywide fee-on-street model.

Anaxee delivers this last-mile phygital presence with digital runners who are tech-enabled, centrally managed, shared, and available on demand. Agrawal said they are building a highway that will be the backbone of the network on which anything can travel and make business happen. Inspiration came from the way Reliance Jio was launched and scaled up over a short time through their network. “We realised that not all companies would have the wherewithal to do this and so we could build a network and offer this as a service,” Agrawal said.

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Currently, they have a presence in 540 districts across 26 states with 40,000 digital runners. Agrawal wants to take the number to 100,000 by 2025. They are freelancers who work as local field executives and make physical visits. Merchant acquisition, digital onboarding, market mapping, order taking, market insights, data collection, competition tracking, carrying our surveys and KYC, are some of the services they offer.

Founded by Arti Agrawal, Govind Agrawal and Nilesh Maheshwari in 2018, Anaxee Digital has received angel funding of $300,000 from SWAN Angel Network, Orios Venture Partners, Let’s Venture, GroCap and Keiretsu Forum. The firm is now looking to raise $8 million as Pre-Series A funding for upskilling runners, upgrading technology and product development.

Anaxee is currently working for e-commerce companies such as Amazon, Udaan and PharmEasy; FMCG companies ITC, Pepsi and Colgate; edtech firms Byju’s and Toppr; and some BFSI companies.

The challenge is to recruit digital runners and ensure enough work for them, Agrawal said. Runners are paid per transaction, so more engagements are needed to ensure they earn 30% of their income through this activity and get around Rs 4,000-5,000 per month.

Recruiting women has been a difficult task for the firm as they are less comfortable using apps and UPI on smartphones. “We are planning to work with Asha workers and train them with these skills to have more women on board,” Agrawal said.