Delhi-based VegFru takes fruits and vegetables trading online, raises funds from Wingify
Delhi-based enterprise software company Wingify has invested an undisclosed amount in an online B2B marketplace for fruits and vegetables, VegFru.com. The funds will be deployed for team expansion and develop mobile apps for both buyers and sellers.
Founded in June 2015 by Anil Chopra and based out of Delhi, VegFru connects farmers, suppliers, retailers and buyers on a single platform. It also serves as a third-party for suppliers and buyers to agree to an Escrow payment until supply is received. It has tied up with various transportation, packaging and export advisory firms for logistics.
Anil Chopra, Founder and CEO, VegFru.com, said,
It is surprising that the same Mangoes that are sold in Vijaywada for Rs 7000 per quintal are sold at Rs 10000 per quintal at New Delhi Azadpurmandi. Even after accounting for transportation and packaging costs, that is 20 per cent increase in wholesale price from South India to North India.”
In the past, Anil managed agri-businesses for organizations like NDDB, Safal, Reliance Retail and Subhiksha. He gained hands on experience on different aspects of running a company in this sector, including sourcing, crop planning, retail operations, wholesale markets, cold chain, frozen foods, merchandising, procurement, warehousing, logistics, sales & marketing and business development.
He mentioned that farmers in developed nations get 50-60 per cent of final consumer price of fruits and vegetables(F&V) produce while an Indian farmer just gets 20-30 per cent. The reason for all these inefficiencies is that the F&V markets and marketing infrastructure in India are not linked with each other. There is a huge knowledge gap between sellers, buyers and farmers in terms of prices and best practices.
How VegFru works?
Vendors, suppliers and sellers can register themselves on VegFru.com and list their products or services for free. Buyers from all over the world can connect with these sellers to enquire about prices and trade terms and trade with a suitable provider. VegFru assists in all trades and ensure quality and efficiency. The company boasts of 5000 registered vendors on VegFru.com that caters to over 100 different kinds of fruits and vegetables.
Anil said,
VegFru.com catered to about 60 wholesale orders in the month of March, which is double the number of orders for February.We see 350 transactions per month. Currently, we have 50 product clusters across India where farmers directly supply vegetables and fruits.”
With 15 employees, Vegfru.com is planning to on-board 50,000 vendors from all over India with expansion to all the major clusters and belts in India.
Founded in 2009 by Paras Chopra in partnership with Sparsh Gupta, Wingyfy has offices in Delhi, New York and Pune and had recently acquired US based Navilytics, a visitor analytics solution platform for websites. Earlier in 2014, the company had also acquired Concept Feedback, a leading US based web design and user experience community startup.
Market Overview
With more than 100 million cultivators in India, the market size of fruits and vegetables trading is almost $200 billion dollars. This is more than half of the $383 billion food and grocery industry in India.While in B2C segment, we have Big Basket, Zopnow, Grofers and Peppertap leading the online grocery market, the B2B marketplace is not explored a lot. Y-Combinator backed Kisan Network is an integrated service platform working in this domain. The top five online grocery startups in India have raised over $173.5 million, whereas B2B marketplace model is still looking for VCs validation as none of the players have shown the scale yet.
For an agrarian economy, it’s a good news and with our farmers facing tough times, hopefully VegFru and Kisan Network can contribute positively. The impact along with the scale remains the key in this sector.