Otipy, India’s first community group buying platform for fresh produce, raised a Series A financing of US$ 10.2 million (INR 76 crores) led by SIG. Omidyar Network India, Innoven Capital and existing investors IPV (Inflection Point Ventures), Pravega, and FactorE also participated in the round. Otipy’s farm-to-fork delivery model optimises for freshness by procuring directly from farmers and delivering fresh produce to consumers in less than 12 hours. Using proprietary demand prediction engines, Otipy ensures little or no stocking of fresh produce ensuring consumers get the freshest produce, yet operating with industry defining wastage metrics compared to the conventional supply chain.
Varun Khurana, Founder and CEO, Otipy said, “We see a strong product market fit with the Otipy model for consumers, community leaders and farmers. Additionally, fresh produce is a high repeat category resulting in high frequency of consumer orders. This new round of funding will support us in our future growth trajectory, adding additional categories on our supply chain making it more efficient and accelerate our mission of making fresh, nutritious food accessible to all.” He further added, “Fresh produce is a 40 per cent gross margin category, however, it is the wastage that kills those margins. We are amongst the first companies that have been able to control it via our innovative model.”
Madhav Tandan, Director Investments, Omidyar commented, “Otipy is building a unique farm-to-table fruit and vegetable brand centered around quality and value. Not only do they help deliver truly fresh produce they are also benefiting the local community leaders as well as the farmers they’re sourcing from. Farmers partnering with Otipy earn up to 20 per cent more and are paid faster too. Their Community Leader delivery partners are also able to make sizeable additional incomes, in the range of tens of thousands rupees per month. This resonates with our focus on increasing value realisation for farmers and the ecosystem by enabling better access to markets and aggregation opportunities.”