European impact investing fund, Huruma, managed by GAWA Capital, has invested $11.6 million in agri-commerce company WayCool Foods. The investment will be used to accelerate and leverage deep tech and automation to enhance its efficiency, WayCool said in a statement.
“We are very proud for our investment in WayCool Foods because the company is revolutionizing the way food is produced, distributed and consumed while benefiting some of the most vulnerable people in India. Farmers can increase their income, kirana stores can improve their offering and low-income consumers will have access to more nutritious food with the added benefit of dramatically reducing food waste” said Luca Torre and Agustin Vitorica, Co-CEOs, GAWA Capital.
WayCool focuses on food development, distribution and leverages innovative technology to scale and operate a complex supply chain from soil to sale. Through its farmer engagement programme -Outgrow, WayCool works with over 85,000 farmers. It operates a full stack, broadline product range across multiple channels and categories such as fresh produce, staples, and dairy, serving over one lakh clients in the HoReCa, general trade, modern trade, and food services space. Waycool’s consumer brands basket consists of Madhuram, Kitchenji, L’exotique and Freshey’s, to name a few.
Chinna Pardhasaradhi CFO, WayCool said “We welcome Gawa Capital to WayCool foods. Gawa is a veteran European impact investor into India, and together, we will explore building viable commercial and financing models in the food supply chain”.
WayCool has increased its overall customer base by 10 times and recently entered the Middle East market. The business already has operations in six States with over 40 distribution centres and is all set to build a tech play book to scale quickly. Use of advanced technology has helped the company grow its revenues four times, driven by a jump in share of own brands from 2 per cent to 15 per cent of the earnings, the company said.
Source: Business Line
