WayCool Foods, a startup in the agri-tech B2B model has announced that it has raised $32 million as part of its Series C fund raising. The investments have come in the form of equity and well as debt.
The Chennai-based company is involved in processing and distributing a wide range of food products and its customers are typically retail outlets in general trade and the departmental store chains referred to as modern trade, which are mostly formatted stores and so on. There are over 8,000 clients being serviced by WayCool Foods currently. At the supply chain end, the company has developed a unique model working directly with the farmers and calls it soil-to-sale model. This means the farm produce is procured directly from the farms and then processed and packed at their facility and door-delivered to their clients. The daily capacity is around 250 tonnes. Most of the clients are located in south India.
Coming back to the funding of this Series C round, Lightbox and FMO, the Dutch entrepreneurial development bank, were two new investors to have joined with the existing investor LGT Lightstone Aspada also participating. The debt part has been picked by InnoVen Capital.
The funds now raised will be utilised to improve on the technology and to expand the product offerings.
Karthik Jayaraman, Co-Founder and CEO, WayCool said, “We are committed to building a lean, efficient and profitable enterprise that makes social impact an integral part of its operations. Lightbox’s deep experience in technology and brand building will greatly help us as we strengthen our digital backbone, and our move into value-added products. FMO’s guidance will be of essence in building a culture of impact orientation across the organisation and staying true to the course”.
The range of fruits, vegetables, dairy and staples etc. are being sold in different brands, like Freshey’s, Kitchenji, Madhuram and Shuddha
As mentioned, the company has developed a deep bond with the farmers they procure from and nearly 40,000 farmers form the backbone of their supply chain. WayCool Foods expects to make investments in their agricultural programme ‘Outgrow’. The idea is to enable improved farm incomes, while bringing efficiency through its direct supply chain model.
FMO has expressed its delight at partnering with WayCool Foods and is hoping to stay committed to this and other Indian startups the Dutch bank has invested in, particularly in the agri-tech sector.
WayCool Foods expects the association with Lightbox to help with better branding and other marketing activities.