Fraazo D2C brand in Vegetables & Fruits Space raises $15 million from Sixth Sense Ventures
Sixth Sense Ventures led a $15 million Series A funding round for Fraazo, a direct-to-consumer (D2C) brand in the fresh vegetables and fruits space.
According to a statement, the company has also received strong interest from development finance institutions and multilaterals for an additional $5 million in financing for expansion and to expand its procurement base with farmers in North and Northeast India.
The investment will allow the company, which currently only serves the Mumbai market, to expand into other metros and invest in technology. According to the company, the funding round is a mix of equity and debt.
The current round was also attended by Nabard-backed Nabventures, as well as existing investors Equanimity Ventures, Apar Group, and Asian Paints' Manish Choksi.
Fraazo delivers farm-fresh vegetables and fruits across Mumbai in 60 minutes via a network of micro-fulfilment stores. It was launched a year ago and has served a million customers to date, according to the company.
Fraazo, which was founded last year by Atul Kumar, Vikas Dosala, Sumit Rai, and Aashish Krishnatre, uses a farm-to-fork model in which it owns the entire back-end supply chain beginning with farmers. The company intends to expand its operations across India while capitalising on the unprecedented digital adoption in the fragmented fresh food market.
The over-$300 billion fruits and vegetables market is shifting toward digital, with the online grocery segment growing at a 50 percent compounded annual growth rate, pushed even further by pandemic-related behaviour changes.
“The need for hygiene, digital convenience, and customer service has never been greater, especially with quality inequity and disparities in service levels across traditional channels,” said Kumar, the chief executive of Fraazo.
It aims to develop the capability of delivering fresh produce to a customer's doorstep within 15 minutes of ordering at 1,000 locations across the country.
“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. Supply-chain verticalization is critical for perishables, which is where horizontal grocery players have found it challenging, and Fraazo has been able to address this, he added.
“The D2C fresh food market is one of the most challenging and nascent spaces in India with limited penetration by horizontal D2C players,” said Gills John, vice president, Nabventures.
According to a statement, the company has also received strong interest from development finance institutions and multilaterals for an additional $5 million in financing for expansion and to expand its procurement base with farmers in North and Northeast India.
The investment will allow the company, which currently only serves the Mumbai market, to expand into other metros and invest in technology. According to the company, the funding round is a mix of equity and debt.
The current round was also attended by Nabard-backed Nabventures, as well as existing investors Equanimity Ventures, Apar Group, and Asian Paints' Manish Choksi.
Fraazo delivers farm-fresh vegetables and fruits across Mumbai in 60 minutes via a network of micro-fulfilment stores. It was launched a year ago and has served a million customers to date, according to the company.
Fraazo, which was founded last year by Atul Kumar, Vikas Dosala, Sumit Rai, and Aashish Krishnatre, uses a farm-to-fork model in which it owns the entire back-end supply chain beginning with farmers. The company intends to expand its operations across India while capitalising on the unprecedented digital adoption in the fragmented fresh food market.
The over-$300 billion fruits and vegetables market is shifting toward digital, with the online grocery segment growing at a 50 percent compounded annual growth rate, pushed even further by pandemic-related behaviour changes.
“The need for hygiene, digital convenience, and customer service has never been greater, especially with quality inequity and disparities in service levels across traditional channels,” said Kumar, the chief executive of Fraazo.
It aims to develop the capability of delivering fresh produce to a customer's doorstep within 15 minutes of ordering at 1,000 locations across the country.
“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. Supply-chain verticalization is critical for perishables, which is where horizontal grocery players have found it challenging, and Fraazo has been able to address this, he added.
“The D2C fresh food market is one of the most challenging and nascent spaces in India with limited penetration by horizontal D2C players,” said Gills John, vice president, Nabventures.
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