Polly Cannella had a problem she wanted to solve. She was interested in buying local but found it challenging to go online and find the items she needed close by in Richmond.
“I was frustrated, and I just wanted a place where I could search for things around me,” she said.
So Cannella decided to build an app to solve the problem that she and others were having. In January 2020, Cannella, alongside her husband and co-founder, Ryan Krienitz, began building lokii, a local shopping and delivery app.
When Covid-19 shutdown businesses two months later, consumers began buying online like never before. Cannella and Krienitz launched their app last March, knowing small businesses would need extra support to sell products.
“When the pandemic hit, it was all signs go,” Cannella said. “The fire was under us to start this.”
A year after the launch, and nearly six months since the startup began offering delivery services in November, lokii’s fire is still burning. The company was accepted into the 10th Lighthouse Labs cohort, a competitive accelerator program that provides $20,000 in equity-free funding and three months of tailored support.
Cannella, whose background is retail marketing, said she is thrilled for the opportunity to receive mentorship on their business plan and funding goals. She expects to pursue a seed round later this year.
Overall, lokii’s focus right now is “to keep the momentum going,” Cannella said. The company has brought in $15,000 worth of sales for Richmond’s independently owned businesses. Forty percent of purchases are made by recurring users, she said.
To use lokii (a play on the word “local”), shoppers download the app, which works just like an online marketplace. They can add items from multiple stores to their cart for one simplified checkout and same-day delivery.
“The idea is that we can find a lot more products than we think we can locally,” Cannella said. “We just aren’t aware of how many products exist around us because we are stuck in an online world.”
Small businesses can sign up for the app, which links their inventory from platforms like Shopify, for tiered monthly fee options. Lokii provides delivery drivers to transport products from stores to customers.
Richmond stores on the app include The Wild Heart, Mamie’s Apothecary and Ladles & Linens Kitchen Shoppe.
Cannella believes the app will continue to thrive in a post-pandemic world. With lokii, shoppers won’t need to go into a local shop blindly, not knowing whether they’ll find the products they’re looking for.
“I see it as a key part of the pre-shopping experience and really a great way to drive in-store traffic post-pandemic,” Cannella said.