Online fruit and vegetable delivery platform Fraazo on Friday said it has raised $11 million in Series A funding led by Sixth Sense Ventures, and NABARD backed NABVENTURES as it seeks to scale operations pan-India. Existing investors Equanimity Ventures, Asian Paints Limited’s Manish Choksi, Vice and Apar Group also participated in the round.
Fraazo headquartered in Mumbai, was founded by Atul Kumar, Vikas Dosala, Sumit Rai, and Aashish Krishnatre.
Fraazo follows a farm to fork model—the company owns the entire back-end supply chain and sells fresh fruits and vegetables to consumers. Through its app and platform, it delivers close to 2,000 tonnes of fresh produce monthly in Mumbai. Fraazo operates through a network of micro-fulfilment stores.
Covid has prompted a shift towards consumers turning to buy daily groceries online. As a result, several fresh produce platforms have emerged across the country’s top cities. Several offer same-day delivery as well as organic produce.
With the current fundraise, Fraazo is set to expand operations pan-India. The company is targeting 1,000 fulfilment centres across the country with a capability to deliver fresh produce within 15 minutes of ordering, said Atul Kumar, co-founder and CEO, Fraazo.
“Fruits and vegetables, the largest category in perishables, is completely fragmented, offline, with no MRP constraint, nor GST – this, coupled with significant supply-chain moat, and high order frequency, makes it a highly scalable online opportunity,” said Nikhil Vora, founder and CEO, Sixth Sense Ventures.
NABVENTURES is a venture growth equity fund that invests in early to mid-stage agriculture, food, rural businesses and agri and rural financial services.
Direct sourcing of fresh produce can help lift farmer incomes, said Dr G. R. Chintala, chairman, NABARD and NABVENTURES.
This article was first published on livemint.com
