American dairy services provider Dairy.com said it has acquired dairy-tech startup Mr. Milkman, the investment marking the debut of Dairy.com in India.
The company has acquired a 100% stake in Mr. Milkman to strengthen its integrated supply chain solution offerings. A source earlier said the deal could be valued at $10-15 million. Dairy.com could be looking at other targets in dairy-tech and agri-tech spaces.
The companies said they will use combined expertise in agribusiness and development resource to enable and innovate last-mile dairy supply chain solutions for India, North America, and European markets.
“Dairy sector and milk brands in India will need to employ technology at every level, right from procurement of milk to the last delivery mile to grow and be successful," Samarth Setia, CEO and co-founder of Mr. Milkman, said.
Dairy.com's CEO Scott Sexton, in a separate interaction with VCCircle, said that besides dairy-tech, another segment that the company be bullish on is agri-tech
"In the past year, we have broken out of being just a pure dairy vertical solution. That means everything from crops, protein such as pork and poultry and, of course dairy, are all target markets. Earlier this year, we acquired ever.ag, a leading provider of several solutions for these industries," said Sexton
"We are able to support acquisitions of almost any size where value exists," he added.
Founded in 2017, Mr. Milkman works with large and mid-sized dairies, milk brands, and individual milk suppliers using an online SaaS platform. Already used by over 60 plus Indian dairy brands, Mr. Milkman enables dairy food product companies to efficiently manage multiple aspects of dairy distribution, supply chain, customer subscriptions, and delivery requests.
Mr. Milkman works with Akshayakalpa, Gyan Dairy, Whyte Farms, Abis Dairy, Carnival Group, Fortune Dairy, Binsar Farms, Nutrimoo, Healthways and others in India.
India is the world’s largest producer and consumer of milk and dairy products. Dairy is one of the most sizeable agribusinesses in India, and the industry is valued at Rs 11,357 crore.
The combined entity will look to optimise and digitise several areas of the agriculture supply chain in India, North America, and Europe. Dairy.com works in multiple agribusiness areas and sectors, including first mile, plant operations, payments, quality control, risk management, and transportation. the company said in a statement.
