Agri-tech start-up WayCool Foods raises Rs 120 cr via equity, debt

Posts annual revenue run rate of Rs 250 crore and 20x expansion since last funding

Chennai-based Agri-tech start-up WayCool has raised Rs 120 crore, as a combination of equity and debt from LGT Impact, prominent angels, and institutional lenders, including Northern Arc Capital and Caspian. The company aims to use the funds to further scale-up operations across Southern and Western India, bolster its technology platform and reinforce its supply chain by building or acquiring assets and capabilities in sourcing, value-added products, and automation of distribution lines.

Sanjay Dasari, co-founder, WayCool Foods said, “Along with rapid growth, we have always been committed to profitability, and almost all of our business lines are operationally profitable. We had committed to open and operate 3 locations after our last institutional fund raise – we are currently operating in 13 locations". 

It is currently handling 150 tonnes of food produce daily, across these locations. Over 70 per cent of its tonnage is sourced directly from farmers and farming partners, with 100 per cernt of payments made digitally in 3-5 days, substantially enhancing the farmer’s return on capital employed. 

The company also claims that it has increased farmer income by about 20 per cent on average.  It also have large quantity of data on consumer buying behaviour across segments and geographies, and plans are to further strengthen our technology platform to enhance supply chain efficiencies.

WayCool Foods, founded in July 2015 by Karthik Jayaraman and Sanjay Dasari, is India’s fastest growing food distribution platform leveraging innovative technology to scale-up and operate a complex supply chain. The company operates a full-stack, broadline product range across multiple channels and categories like fresh produce, staples and dairy serving over 4,000 clients.

Karthik Jayaraman, co-founder and CEO of WayCool Foods, added “As we continue scaling across product segments, geographies, and business lines, we will continue to raise funds but at the same time remain capital efficient and achieve a quality, mature business at scale by carefully calibrating the stage of the business to the funding needs.”

The Company has scaled 20x since the last round of funding with judicious use of capital, said Kartik Srivatsa, managing partner at Aspada, an earlier investor in WayCool