INDIA – Waycool Foods, Chemnai-based food distribution company has acquired the supply chain business of Bengaluru-based B2B fresh produce e-retailer Farm Taaza for an undisclosed amount.
The transaction includes a transfer of Farm Taaza’s supply chain assets, collection and distribution centres, clients, and team to Waycool Foods.
The deal will see Waycool integrate Taaza’s distribution operations across Southern India as well as add more customers onto its supply chain.
Backed by Hong Kong-based Epsilon Venture Partners and former iGate CEO Phaneesh Murthy, Farm Taaza is an agritech startup working with online and offline retailers and other clients.
“While we have had good success in building a supply chain business in the fresh produce industry, we felt that our core skills lay more in the Tech Space as an enabler for change,” said Kumar Ramachandran, Founder, Farm Taaza.
“We have known WayCool for quite some time and given the robust supply chain they’ve built this far, we felt they would be the best partners to hand over our operations to while we pursue our new initiatives.”
In July 2017, Farm Taaza had raised US$8 million in Series A funding led by Epsilon Venture Partners and Tara India Fund IV.
Farm Taaza had also received $1 million in its seed round from angel investors such as former iGate CEO Phaneesh Murthy and former Asia-Pacific chief of Intel Capital Sudheer Kuppam.
Earlier this year, WayCool had acquired the distribution business of Aalgro Foods, and had taken significant equity stake in M/s Benani Foods Pvt. Ltd., the promoters of Freshey’s ready-to-cook products.
WayCool currently serves a network of around 8,000 clients with 200 tons of food products every day from a base of 35,000 farmers.
“We are delighted to bring on board the distribution business of Farm Taaza, one of the first movers and pioneers in the agritech space,” said Sanjay Dasari, Co-Founder, WayCool Foods.
“We have begun the task of getting the tech and ops teams together and integrating Farm Taaza’s centres seamlessly into our IT platform.
“With this, we will be able to increase our procurement base as well as our distribution footprint in specific target markets such as Telangana and Karnataka.”
