Private equity-backed B2B food and agritech platform WayCool Foods & Products Pvt Ltd on Monday said it has rolled out a venture for technology-based solutions to global food supply chains, for an investment of $20-40 million.
The Chennai-based company plans to invest the above amount over the next three years in ‘Censa,’ it said in a statement.
Censa, which comprises 200 members, offers technology products as customizable SaaS solutions across farm, processing, distribution, retailer, consumer and finance.
These solutions seek to address supply chain-related problems, ranging from crop health protection, disease detection and management to digital lending, among others, it added.
WayCool was founded in 2015 by Karthik Jayaraman and Sanjay Dasari. The startup distributes a wide range of directly-sourced fresh produce. It works with more than 150,000 farmers and operates a full-stack product range across multiple channels, to 100,000 clients, the company said.
“Censa's software-as-a-service (SaaS) solutions will help us achieve our vision of having 1% of the world's food move through our platform, thus enabling us to make a meaningful contribution to this age-old supply chain,” said Karthik Jayaraman, co-founder and managing director, WayCool Foods.
“The launch of Censa reiterates our commitment to transforming the global food ecosystem on the back of advanced tech while also benefiting all stakeholders simultaneously. We have accelerated this launch based on the positive feedback and queries received from over 100 potential global clients when we showcased our solutions at Expo 2020 and other global events,” said Avinash Kasinathan, CEO, Censa.
Last month, WayCool raised $40 million from US-based alternative investment firm 57 Stars Global Innovation Fund.
The company says that it has been steadily building necessary technology and operational capabilities to operate robust agri-food supply chains from soil to sale.
Early this month, WayCool raised Rs 50 crore from venture debt firm Stride Ventures as part of its debt funding round.
A number of tech startups focused on agriculture have attracted funding in the past year. Some of these include Ninjacart pocketing $145 million from Walmart, DeHaat raising $115 million, Absolute bagging $100 million, AgroStar at $70 million, Arya.ag raising $60 million, AgNext and Animall also raising funds recently.
According to a Bain report last year, private equity and venture capital investments in the agritech segment increased to $329 million in 2020 from $296 million in 2019. The segment will see significant investment and is projected to grow to a $30–$35 billion market by 2025, it said.
For FY21, WayCool's operating revenue grew 40% in FY21 to Rs 382.3 crore and its losses jumped 53% to Rs 148.69 crore in the fiscal year ending March 2021.
