Agri-commerce firm WayCool Foods has raised USD 117 million (about Rs 864 crore) from investors to strengthen its technology and future growth. The company said that the fund has been raised in series D round which saw participation from new and existing investors such as LightRock, LightBox, FMO, Lightsmith, World Bank Group’s- IFC, Redwood Equity Partners and Gawa Capital.
“WayCool Foods will use the fresh capital to accelerate and leverage deep tech and automation to enhance its efficiency multi-fold,” the company said in a statement. Karthik Jayaraman, Chief Executive Officer and Co-Founder, WayCool Foods said, We have raised a total of USD 117 million as a part of our Series D as a combination of equity (80 per cent) and debt (20 per cent). ” The deployment of funds has already begun, he added.
“Our first priority would be to deepen and widen our technology and automation, in our quest to build the most comprehensive food and Agri platform in the world,” Jayaraman said. The company will deploy the funds to deepen its footprint in target geographies, adding up to 50 more distribution points over the next 18 months. WayCool has begun building its next-gen technology centre in Bengaluru, which will build out the tech platform and add layers of AI and analytics, the statement said.
WayCool said it plans to add new food categories into its platform, and strengthen its private label brands, particularly in value added food products. WayCool has a wide product range across multiple channels and categories such as fresh produce, staples, and dairy, serving over 100,000 clients in the general trade, modern trade,e-commerce, and food services space. It caters to over 500 locations in southern and western India.
