- In less than 12 months since inception, Wheelocity has scaled to be one of India’s leading fresh supply chain network operational in 12+ cities, handling close to 700 tonnes of fruits & vegetables (F&V) every day
- Wheelocity is rapidly expanding its fresh commerce enablement beyond F&V, including scaling farm side operations and building tech to deliver automation and standardisation in a so-far manually driven category.
India, 12th July 2022: Wheelocity – India’s leading supply chain network for fresh commerce – has raised USD 12 Million in its series A round of funding led by Lightspeed. The round was a mix of equity and venture debt, also saw participation from Anicut Capital and select other investors.
Established in Sep 2021, the company leverages technology to help fresh commerce companies improve their customer experience by delivering unparalleled inventory availability, better quality and reduced wastage in the fresh supply chain – all of this at best in class speed and costs. Wheelocity is building the rails for fresh commerce in the country, working with top customers such as Swiggy Instamart, Ninjacart, Dunzo and Blinkit among others. For each of these customers, Wheelocity has helped them scale their fresh supply chain efficiently and rapidly.
Selvam VMS, Founder and CEO, Wheelocity said, “India is a fresh-food surplus country – and despite that while on one hand we dump/lose hundreds of thousands of tonnes of F&V every day due to supply chain inefficiencies, on the other hand, studies indicate more than 33 million Indians are undernourished. Clearly, there is a massive problem to be solved by building the rails for fresh produce in India, and we are excited to be backed by Lightspeed & Anicut to solve this at scale.”
With the help of its integrated network of Collection Centres, Fulfillment and Distribution Centers, Last Mile Hubs, Dark stores and logistics built on a strong tech backbone, Wheelocity has enabled its customers to deliver freshest produce to their consumers, while reducing wastage to a minimum. It can enable the customers to launch new cities in less than 7 days – something that would previously take months of planning and execution.
Rahul Taneja, Partner, Lightspeed, shared, “Solving the fresh supply chain in India is a very large problem and in Wheelocity, we saw a mission-driven team, committed to create a meaningful difference for its customers by creating the rails for fresh commerce in the country. We are delighted to partner with the team and excited that their unique approach is being rewarded with increased trust from customers. We’re confident that their full stack approach will enable multiple businesses to scale and grow, across multiple fresh categories and geographies.”
In less than a year since inception, Wheelocity has become operational in 12+ cities handling close to 700 tonnes of F&V every day, with a 350+ member team. While the business started with F&V, Wheelocity recognises vast untapped potential in the Dairy, Seafood, Meat and Poultry sectors and has already started partnering with customers here. Over the next 12 months, the company further aims to reach over 30 more cities in India.
Congratulating Wheelocity, Ashvin Chadha, Managing Partner, Anicut Capital said, “With the highly efficient and sustainable solutions built by Wheelocity, we believe that they will bridge the existing bottlenecks of fresh commerce in India and revolutionize the entire farm to fork supply chain. Anicut funding both debt and equity requirements through its multi asset platform is in line with our belief of providing the maximum value add for this rapidly evolving and growing ecosystem, which will ultimately deliver multifold benefits to farmers and consumers throughout the country.”
Wheelocity aims to leverage this fundraise to build new product offerings in farm side operations, helping its current customer base to scale rapidly and at the same time drive efficiencies within the F&V Supply Chain. Over the next six months, Wheelocity aims to bring in world class talent across roles in product, technology, and operations, among others. Over the next few years, the company is looking to dramatically reduce/eliminate food wastage through technology-powered supply chains along with developing technological capacities like IoT based packing units, AI based work solutions, and warehouse/logistics automation.
