BENGALURU: Agriculture technology venture
Ninjacart
has raised $35 million (Rs 250 crore) in Series B funding from
Accel
US,
Syngenta
Ventures, Korean investment company Neoplux, Jo Hirao, founder of Japanese media platform business ZIGExN, Russian firm HR Capital and Trifecta Capital. All existing investors -- Accel India, Infosys cofounder Nandan Nilekani, Mistletoe and Qualcomm Ventures – have also participated in this round.
Ninjacart was founded by Thirukumaran Nagarajan, Kartheeswaran K K, Ashutosh Vikram, Sharath Loganathan and Vasudevan Chinnathambi some three years ago.
It's an agri-marketing platform that connects farmers and retailers, helping farmers realise a 20 per cent higher price. The company has 40 collection centres across three cities -- Bengaluru, Chennai and Hyderabad. The farm produce reaches fulfilment and distribution centres and finally to retailers within 12 hours.
Ninjacart processes 300 tonnes of fruits and vegetables from some 3,000 farmers, and supplies to over 4,000 retailers daily. The payment is credited to the farmers’ bank account in 24 hours. Nagarajan, the CEO, said, "We want to expand our operations to two more cities, Delhi and Mumbai. We want to build a robust supply chain and will continue to make investments in talent, technology and supply chain infrastructure." Prior to the latest funding, Ninjacart has raised Rs 62 crore.
Subrata Mitra, partner at Accel India, said, "Ninjacart has been attempting to alleviate major issues in India’s fruit & veggies supply chain over the past several years. The team has managed to get into a clear leadership position in that ecosystem, especially around South Indian cities."
Shubhang Shankar of Syngenta Ventures said, "We have been very impressed by Ninjacart’s success in developing a solution that provides improved market access to Indian farmers while at the same time delivering high quality practices across the farm to fork supply chain."
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