Agritech startup Our Food raises Rs 45 crore for business growth

Agritech startup Our Food has raised USD 6 million (around Rs 45 crore) from investors for growth of its business.

Our Food is a technology-driven agribusiness platform that seeks to decentralize the food processing industry with an innovative farmer adoption and engagement supply-chain platform across the country.

The company is based out of Hyderabad and was founded by IIM-A alumni Bala Reddy in 2016.

Our Food has raised USD 6 million in growth funding.

The funding round was led by existing investor 3Lines Venture Capital and a new investor C4D Asia Fund.

Lalit Jalan, 3Lines India Chairman and ex-CEO of Reliance Infrastructure, will join the company's board of directors.

The company plans to ramp up operations, increase manufacturing capacity and vastly improve the agricultural food supply chain, it said in a statement.

"Over 1,700 rural entrepreneurs have licensed Our food farmer franchises, each operating a regional crop-specific processing unit that procures and processes raw material from over a hundred farmers from nearby villages," the company said.

Each franchisee is powered with an end-to-end tech-enabled solution, starting with the establishment of a single mini food processing unit, access to equipment financing, training in processing, and marketing of the processed output.

"Majority of the value gained from pre-processing, reducing post-harvest wastage and supply chain disintermediation is shared between the franchise operator and the farmer that supplies the unprocessed harvest," said Bala Reddy, Founder and CEO of Our Food.

"This capital infusion will help us boost our capacity to over 6,000 operational franchises, gives us the right ammunition to significantly disrupt the food processing industry and position us for an IPO in 2024," Reddy added.
Our food has a presence in 13 states in India, primarily concentrating in Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, and Karnataka.

The company has processing units for over 15 crops, including pulses, cereals, spices, groundnut, and plans to expand its crop portfolio.