WayCool Foods raises US$ 117 million in Series D round of funding

WayCool Foods, India's fastest growing Agri-commerce company, has raised US$ 117 million in their 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.

Elaborating on the funding, Karthik Jayaraman, chief executive officer and co-founder, WayCool Foods, said, "We have raised a total of US$ 117mn as a part of our Series D as a combination of Equity (80%) and Debt (20%). The deployment of funds has begun already. We are happy to have brought on-board like-minded partners who understand the nuances of this sector and are committed to not just our growth, but more importantly, our purpose. 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."

"We will also deploy the funds to deepen our footprint in our target geographies, adding up to 50 more distribution points over the next 18 months. Finally, we will be investing in creating a keiretsu of businesses, who bring complementary capabilities and are aligned to our purpose."

WayCool has begun building its next-gen technology center in Bengaluru, which will build out the tech platform and add layers of AI and analytics. The tech center will also incorporate labs for robotics, IoT and automation, which will design the automated distribution centers of the future. WayCool also plans to add new food categories into its platform, and strengthen its private label brands, particularly in value-added food products.

WayCool Foods leverages innovative technology to scale and operate a complex supply chain from soil to sale. Implementing deep tech and automation has successfully enabled WayCool to create a World Class, Sustainable Supply Chain. WayCool has a wide product range across multiple channels and categories such as fresh produce, staples, and dairy, serving over 100000 clients in the general trade, modern trade, eCommerce, and food services space. Its deep and dense network caters to over 500 locations in southern and western India. WayCool's private label brands basket consists of Madhuram, Shuddha, Kitchenji, L'exotique and Freshey's, to name a few.

In 2021, WayCool increased its customer base by 4X, entered the Middle East market, and is set to strengthen its footprint in the UAE market.