Agri-tech startup Otipy, which currently sells ‘fresh’ fruits and vegetables through a mobile app, has raised $32 million (₹235 crore) which will be utilised for expansion to other more places in the north for adding processed food products in the current portfolio.

Launched in 2020, Otipy, part of Crofarm Agriproducts, is a farm to form e-commerce platform for fresh produce and recently, it included bread in its distribution basket.

In July last year, the Gurugram-based company had raised $10.2 million (around ₹76 crore) under Series A funding from SIG, Omidyar Network India, Innoven Capital, IPV (Inflection Point Ventures), Pravega, and FactorE.

In Series B round, the funding was led by Westbridge Capital, where the existing investors SIG and Omidyar Network India also participated, Otipy founder and CEO Varun Khurana said.

Business outlook

“We are currently present in whole of the national capital region (NCR) including Gurugram, Delhi and Noida as well as Sonepat (Haryana), Bhiwadi (Rajasthan) and Meerut (Uttar Pradesh) having a customer base of 5 lakh. We have plan to expand out footprints to places like Chandigarh, Agra and Panipat in next 3-4 months,” Khurana said. There is also a long term plan to foray into Bangalore, Mumbai, Hyderabad and Chennai, he added.

The platform has launched its own bread brand- House of Fresh – and will add more food products during coming months, he said. “Though our own brands are available through Otipy, we are also selling products of other brands. But our ‘fresh’ fruits and vegetables are still our main focus,” Khurana said. The platform delivers the booked products next day early in the morning whatever were ordered by 9 O’clock in the evening.

Financials

The startup had a turnover of ₹19.73 crore during 2020-21 while the target is to take the revenue to ₹100 crore this fiscal.

Otipy handles over 100 tonnes of fresh produce per day from the farms to its consumers and has a wastage of 3 per cent, as against 30 per cent in conventional supply chain. Leveraging its ‘community leader’ model, its logistics cost is as low as Rs ₹4/kg till the consumer’s doorstep.

“We are excited to partner with Otipy as they disrupt the daily essentials market via the community group buying model,” said Sandeep Singhal, MD of Westbridge Capital.

“We have created a model that small business owners, particularly women, have found appealing and successful. We have more than 20,000 community leaders or resellers helping us provide various products to our valued clients,” Khurana had earlier said.

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