Business of Agriculture March April 2019 Edition | Page 35

News & Updates
NinjaCart receives investment of
Rs 625 crore from Tiger Global
T
iger Global has made a soft comeback
in India last year. However, it turned
aggressive this year with back to back deals
in Clevertap and NinjaCart. Tiger Global, the
New York-based investment powerhouse
has invested Rs 625 crore in NinjaCart,
picking up a little less than 26.5 percent stake
and valuing the agri-tech start-up at over
$320 million. It’s a staggering 4X spike in
its valuation in the span of just four months.
This happened two weeks after the firm
participated in $25 million investment in
Clevertap. This is considered to be the
largest solo bet of the New York-based firm
in an Indian start-up ever.
Prior to this investment, the agritech start-up
had raised $34.6 Mn (INR 250 Cr) in a Series
B funding round from Accel US, Syngenta
Ventures, Neoplux, ZIGxN founder Jo
Hirao, HR Capital, and Trifecta Capital.
The funds are being used for expanding its
services in new geographies, strengthening
its product and technology team.
NinjaCart had raised $4.9 Mn (INR 35 Cr)
in Series A round from Accel, NRJN Trust,
among others in July 2018. It had also
raised $1 Mn (INR 7 Cr) in a
venture debt funding round
from Trifecta Capital in March
2018.
Tiger Global’s big investment
in NinjaCart is a good sign
for several start-ups who are
trying to organise the traditional
nal
and underdeveloped supply chain
in in
agricultural space. Tech-enabled start-
ups minimise wastage significantly
tly and
increase efficiency.
Likes of NinjaCart and its rivals
Crofarm, WayCool and a handful of others
have been weeding out these inefficiencies.
NinjaCart was founded in 2015 by
Thirukumaran Nagarajan, Kartheeswaran
KK, Sharath Loganathan, Ashutosh Vikram,
Sachin P J, and Vasudevan Chinnathambi.
The company essentially helps supermarkets,
kirana stores, and standalone shops to
procure fresh fruits and vegetables directly
from farmers. At present, NinjaCart claims to
deliver 500 tonnes of vegetables and fruits
daily with close to 100 percent accuracy. It
has 12,000 farmers on its platform across
seven cities including: Bengaluru; Chennai;
Hyderabad; Delhi; and Mumbai. NinjaCart
allows farmers to deal directly with
establishments, by cutting out middlemen
and earning more for their produce. With
automation and formalization, the start-up
claims that it is able to push up farmers’
income by 20 percent.