Deals in Brief – EthnicGrocer.com Seeks $10 Million –

EVANSTON, Ill. – EthnicGrocer.com, a Web business that sells ethnic foods, launched its site in late July following its first round of venture capital this past spring.

KB Partners of Northbrook, Ill. and angel investor Don Jones provided the funding, which totaled between $1 million and $2 million, said EthnicGrocer Chief Operating Officer Subhash Bedi, declining to give the exact figure.

The young company, founded while Bedi and Chief Executive Parry Singh were in business school, is preparing to raise a second round, targeting about $10 million, Bedi said. EthnicGrocer hopes to attract West Coast backers.

EthnicGrocer at press time sold foods from a dozen countries, and the company plans to increase its selection to 30 nations by the end of August. EthnicGrocer already has a relationship with Webvan.com (story page 37) and is in the midst of trying to form alliances with other on-line grocery operations, hoping to serve as a kind of “ethnic foods aisle” for them, Bedi said.