Sanjay Dasari shares an experience that inspired him to get into this venture. "I was working on a plan for a food outlet and was uncomfortable with the lack of hygiene and transparency in the traditional food supply ecosystem. When discussing with other food entrepreneurs, I discovered that most of them shared similar concerns and wanted a transparent, hygienic and efficient supply partner."
He adds, "It is an exciting opportunity to be able to take new-age technology and apply it to the world's oldest industry - the food supply chain. The more we learn about the opportunities ahead of us, the more we realize that AI can play a very big role in achieving our goals."
WayCool is an omnichannel food supply chain company. They operate across fresh fruits and vegetables, rice, dal, wheat products, dairy, and even value-added products like ginger paste, tomato paste, and idli dosa batter. The company also offers this range to customers like 5 Star Hotels, standalone or national supermarkets, local Kirana stores, and more. Currently managing close to 300 tonnes of food items per day.
Brief about the technology involved in farming?"We have been extremely cognizant about linking all parts of the farm to fork value chain through technology, because we have realized, it's only through technology, can we, as part of India's food value system, will be able to contribute our bit to feed the billion population of our nation. We see the farmer as an entrepreneur and we as a company look at all the different ways that we can improve upon the farmer's profit & loss account. Though market linkage and the final purchase of products from the farmer is extremely important, our suite of applications can make farming easier and more profitable for the farmers we work."
WayCool sources products to the exact specification required by each of their 10,000+ customers across South India. The process is done through meticulous planning, as each customer's requirements must be sourced from multiple different farmers in multiple different states and regions in the country.
"We are just getting started. Though we have grown exponentially these past few years, the Indian food supply market is massive and there is enough growth opportunity. We will continue to experiment with exciting technologies, both physical and digital, and implement them aggressively across the food value chain. At the end of the day, our goal is to improve farmer income and reduce food wastage at a large scale, and we will continue to strive towards that", concludes Sanjay when asked about the future aim for the project.
Sanjay’s company sources 76% of their veggies from marginal farmers who have 2 acres or less of farmland and currently works with nearly 50,000 farmers to ship hundreds of tonnes of produce daily, between nearly 20 cities to over 7000 clients. The farmers, in turn, are paid directly to their bank accounts within in full within a week. His company has raised $20 million from impact investor Aspada Investment Company too.
