With a rebrand and software update, Lula Convenience wants to serve the full scope of retail sales

Adit Gupta and Tom Falzani have been building the tech-enabled delivery service for convenience stores since just after the pandemic hit. The startup’s first iteration was inspired by Gupta’s parents who ran their own convenience store, but were missing out on the instant-needs delivery momentum created by apps like Uber Eats and Door Dash. Mom-and-pop stores didn’t usually have the infrastructure to be able to fulfill online orders like large chains could.

The pair and their team set up stores with tablets and the software to fulfill orders through existing delivery platforms. Lula’s technology allows convenience stores to list and keep track of their inventory for delivery by these third-party drivers for a subscription fee. By 2022, the company had grown to about 30 employees, and had raised a $5.5 million seed round as it expanded across the country, serving both standalone bodegas and chains like 7-Eleven.

Now, the company is building on its existing services as Lula Convenience. Its software now offers order aggregation, point-of-sale services and editing capabilities, with a goal of being more involved in the retail sale process. For example: A chain with 30 locations can update the price of a single item across all its stores in one movement on the backend of these delivery apps, or more quickly update availability of a product. They aren’t yet working with Wawa, but that’s the exact type of chain they’re setting their sights on, Gupta told Technical.ly.

Lula is used in all 50 states and at about 1,000 stores, with the goal of at least doubling that number by the end of the year, per the cofounder: “We found this product can be a plug-and-play solution.”

Supply chain issues have hit convenience stores especially badly, and the new features of the software allows store owners to update their inventory or change prices much more efficiently, Gupta said.

“In the restaurant space, you have platforms like Square and Toast, but convenience stores are like 10 years behind,” he said. “We’re building those integrations.”

Lula will also be rolling out a self-directed on-boarding experience to help potential customers with little or no online presence get started. The idea is their convenience store can go from no ecommerce presence to having a page anywhere online in minutes.

The Lula team is now global with about 35 folks in five countries. Gupta said they plan to raise a Series A round of funding in the next year, and are exploring how they might work with both convenience stores and brands to “connect more pieces.”

“We could be helping connect the brands with what’s being sold in the store,” he said. “I see us diving deeper into that direction.”