Business-to-business (B2B) fruits marketplace Vegrow has secured $46 million in Series C funding led by Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund GIC. Existing investors Prosus, Matrix Partners India, Elevation Capital, and Lightspeed participated in the funding round.
The Bengaluru-based agritech company will use the fresh capital to expand its reach in India and strengthen its global presence, according to a statement. Avendus was the financial advisor to Vegrow in the deal.
The deal marks GIC’s first agritech and B2B investment in India.
Founded in 2020 by IIT alumni Praneeth Kumar, Mrudhukar Batchu, Kiran Naik, and Shobhit Jain, Vegrow helps bring demand and supply-side traders and buyers of fruits on a singular platform.
India’s fruit segment is fragmented, unorganised, and involves multiple intermediaries facilitating transactions. Vegrow is attempting to disrupt the space using its multi-channel demand stack and its use of technology for demand-supply matchmaking.
The company said it maximises farmers’ income by accurately grading produce and efficiently matching it with the most suitable demand channel. This creates a virtuous cycle, attracting more farmers through competitive pricing as well as more buyers, who seek consistency in both price and quality.
Vegrow aims to become a leader in the fruits category while ensuring transparency and higher income for farmers. It is also committed to reducing carbon consumption through supply chain optimisation, it said on Wednesday.
“We are excited to work with GIC, whose long-term vision and reputed global network can contribute to building a company that will last generations. We are also grateful for the continued support from our existing investors. As we focus on long-term institutional development and enhancing value for all stakeholders, we are excited for what the future holds,” Jain, Co-founder of Vegrow, said.
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With the new funding, Vegrow has raised nearly $80 million in total. It last secured $25 million in Series B round led by Prosus following a $13 million round from Lightspeed and Elevation Capital.
Netherlands-based Prosus—which backs the likes of Swiggy, Byju’s and PayU in India–has increased its ownership in Vegrow by pumping in more money in the Series C round.
“Vegrow is the fastest agri-tech company to build a national presence, having done this within three years of its inception. Typically, it takes double the time to achieve this scale of operations,” Praneeth Kumar, co-founder of Vegrow, added.
Agritech and foodtech startups raised a total funding of $2.4 billion in 2022, a 33% decline from the $3.6 billion secured in 2021. The total number of deals declined to 133 last year from 230 in 2021, according to a report by venture capital firms Agfunder and Omnivore.
Edited by Affirunisa Kankudti
