India’s agricultural sector is one of the largest in the world and its contribution to the economy is the highest. However, the agricultural supply chain is inefficient at all levels. And in addition to that, it is exploitative. A huge quantity of fruits and vegetables perish even before reaching the market. And the multiple layers of intermediaries denying farmers a fair price for their produce isn't making the situation any better.

Otipy is a B2B2C startup, founded in 2020 by Varun Khurana, with an aim to make a supply chain that supports farmers and provides customers with the freshest produce.

"We are on a mission … to do something meaningful and bring a fundamental change in lives of our farmers, consumers and create earning opportunities for our partner resellers."

Remodeling the Supply Chain

Otipy revamps the existing agricultural supply chain to a community group buying model. First, the customers order fruits and vegetables through the otipy customer app. The orders are then aggregated and produce is harvested on demand. The harvested produce is taken to the warehouse where it is graded, packed and sent to a community reseller, who handles the last-mile delivery to the customers. With this, Otipy is able to achieve farm-to-fork delivery in just 12 hours.

Empowering Farmers

In addition to giving farmers the best price for their produce, Otipy also keeps them updated on the evolving market demands, and guides them on various aspects of farming and on how they could increase their profits. It also empowers community resellers, who are mainly women and small neighborhood retailers, to earn without prior monetary investments.

The application of AI predictive technology in the agri-supply-chain brings the wastage of food down from 40% to 3%, offering the best prices to customers and farmers.

The Expansion

Currently, Otipy delivers farm-fresh produce to over 5lakh customers across Delhi-NCR. They plan to expand their business to Mumbai, Bangalore and Pune and optimize their supply chain.

Otipy raised a total of $32M in the Series B funding led by WestBridge Capital, with a total of $42.4M raised in 3 rounds of funding.

“The Series B round of funding will support us as we expand to new pin codes, strengthen our supply chain, invest in cutting edge tech, add product categories and accelerate our mission of making fresh, nutritious food accessible to all,” -Varun Khurana, Founder & CEO, Otipy

Conclusion

Fruits and vegetables are perishable, but the demand for them is perpetual. It is high time for India, with its growing population, to upgrade and optimize its agricultural sector. And Otipy is progressing towards realising this goal.

What do you think? Will Otipy be able to help revive the once-flourishing Indian agriculture industry?