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The founders of Vegrow, an agritech startup that recently raised Series C funding led by GIC, believe the company they built today is very different from the one they founded four years ago. . “These last four years have been full of quality execution, four successful fundraisings, experiments, failures, and some great business models,” said Shobhit Jain, co-founder of Vegrow. Masu.
Characteristics of IIT members and company co-founders, 34-year-old Jain, 34-year-old Praneeth Kumar, and 33-year-old Kiran Naik. (And the other co-founder, Mudhukar Bachu, is not featured here)) What stands out is that they all come from agricultural backgrounds and have spent some amount of time in the fields. This perfect combination of hands-on agricultural experience and technology knowledge makes them the ideal agritech founders that investors can bet on. “We are all passionate about solutions for farmers and the larger agricultural ecosystem,” Jain added.
Backed by prominent investors including Matrix Partners, Elevation Capital, Prosus, and Lightspeed, Vegrow is a B2B company that strives to maximize farmers' income by accurately grading agricultural products and efficiently matching them with the best demand channels. A fruit market. This creates a virtuous cycle that attracts more farmers through competitive pricing, as well as more buyers looking for consistency in both price and quality, the founders say.
Commenting on Vegrow’s USP, Praneeth Kumar says, “Vegrow’s USP is: “What makes us unique is our multi-channel approach that helps us optimize price realization. Our multi-channel demand stack and use of technology to efficiently match supply and demand gives us the advantage of attracting more businesses. It creates a cycle” that supports farmers through competitive pricing and more buyers who seek consistency in both price and quality. ”
Geographic expansion and digging deeper into existing channels are key focus areas for founders today. “We are in a very large (over USD 50 billion) market that is growing.
Global expansion is part of the overall strategy. However, India will continue to play an important role in global trade. In fact, we were one of the largest exporters of bananas from India to the Middle East last year,'' Kiran Naik said.
The company has grown almost five times year-on-year in FY23 and is now operating at an operating profit. “What we are also proud of is the great team we have built of industry veterans and experts from digital high-growth companies. We believe we have the recipe. Now we All we have to do is implement and achieve sustainable growth,” Jain said.
fact sheet
- Number of co-founders – 4
- Shobhit Jain, co-founder (34). Praneeth Kumar, co-founder (34). Kiran Naik Co-founder (33)
- Number of employees – 556
- Year of establishment – 2020
- External investors – GIC, Prosus, Matrix, Elevation, Lightspeed, Ankur, and several angels
