FreshToHome, a D2C meat firm, has joined the fast commerce trend by offering a delivery service in a few Indian locations that takes 10 to 20 minutes. Although FreshToHome typically delivers orders in 60 minutes, the speed of delivery will rely on how close the customer is to the closest dark store. Shan Kadavil, the founder of FreshToHome, told a media channel that the company started providing speedy delivery around two months ago.
Operations and Financial Outlook of FreshToHome
The direct-to-consumer fish and meat company was established in 2015 by serial entrepreneurs Kadavil and Mathew Joseph, and it is presently present in 27 cities in the United Arab Emirates and 160 cities in India. Additionally, it sells its goods through rapid commerce marketplaces like Swiggy Instamart and Blinkit, which are owned by Zomato, as well as e-commerce sites like Amazon and Flipkart.
In certain places throughout the nation, the startup charges a platform fee of INR 4 for every order in addition to the money it makes from product sales. To date, FreshToHome has raised around $377 million in investment. In its most recent round of fundraising, which was headed by Amazon Sambhav Venture Fund and included participation from E20 Investment, Mount Judi Ventures, and other current investors like Investcorp, it raised $104 million.
The D2C brand’s standalone net loss for its India operations decreased from INR 313.17 Cr in the previous fiscal year to INR 149.73 Cr in the financial year 2023-24 (FY24), a 52.18% decrease. Revenue increased from INR 24.91 Cr in FY23 to INR 369.55 Cr in the fiscal year under review, a 15X increase. FreshToHome faces competition from companies such as Zappfresh and Licious in the Indian direct-to-consumer meat sector, which is expected to reach a value of $119.36 million by 2030.
India’s Quick Commerce Sector has Become New Battle-Ground
Several firms in the nation are adopting the rapid commerce model at the same time as FreshToHome’s entry into the 10–20 minute delivery market. Giants like Flipkart Minutes, Nykaa, and Myntra have entered the market in addition to established players like Zepto, Swiggy Instamart, and Blinkit.
Amazon declared Tez and Myntra introduced “M-Now,” while Flipkart ventured into fast commerce with “Minutes.” Now, every major company is concentrating on the quickly expanding fast commerce business, due to the demand and broad adoption in tier-2 and tier-3 cities as well as metro areas.
According to the Tracxn study, the rapid commerce industry had a notable increase in funding in 2024, raising $1.37 billion in equity capital from seven rounds, primarily owing to Zepto, which raised $1.355 billion in three $300 million rounds. Redseer, a consultancy firm, projects a 40–45% GMV CAGR for q-commerce over the next three years. All players have now increased their services beyond only grocery and food to include toys, Dhanteras gold, cosmetics, fashion, and electronics, among other things.
Rajan Anandan is an Angel Investor and businessman who currently serves as the Managing Director of Sequoia Capital India. He was born in 1966 in Sri Lanka. After schooling, Anandan went abroad for his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in engineering and completed them at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Stanford University.
Rajan Anandan served as the top executive in big tech companies. Before Sequoia Capital Anandan was the Vice President at Google India and the SEA region, Managing Director at Microsoft India and Vice President at Dell India. He was also a partner at McKinsey for 11 years from 1992. His passion for technology and hard work have taken him to a higher position in globally acclaimed companies.
Besides being an executive and a businessman, Rajan Anandan is an active Angel Investor. In the last 13 years, he has made around 80 personal investments in multiple startups. This article covers the entire investment portfolio of Rajan Anandan over the years.
The following are the companies that have received funds from Rajan Anandan as an Angel Investor:
Smytten
Industry: Wellness and Beauty Care Investment Amount: $1.3 million (With Other Investors) Funding Round: Seed
Smytten – Rajan Anandan Funded Startups
Smytten is an online wellness and beauty care startup that offers some new and exhilarating shopping experiences for its customers. The company also offers a free trial of over 500 Indian and International brands along with some exciting benefits and discounts.
Smytten raised a funding of $15 million through a Series A round in May 2022. Earlier, Smytten received a Seed Fund of $1.3 million on April 11, 2016. Rajan Anandan along with a few other investors was a part of it.
InnovAccer
Industry: Healthcare Investment Amount: $2.5 million (With Other Investors) Funding Round: Seed
InnoAccer – Rajan Anandan Funded Startups
InnoAccer is a healthcare enterprise software company based in San Francisco. This platform curates and brings in all the information on healthcare and innovations in the industry and makes it accessible to everyone in need.
Through a Series E round held in December 2021, InnovAccer raised funding of $150 million from various investors. Rajan Anandan has also been one of the investors in InnovAccer during its Seed Round where it raised $2.5 million.
Indifi Technologies
Industry: Finance Lending Investment Amount: $18.8 million (With Other Investors) Funding Round: Venture Capital
Indifi Technologies – Rajan Anandan Funded Startups
A sum of $18.8 million was invested by the investors, including Rajan Anandan, in November 2021 through the Venture Capital round. Also, an undisclosed sum was invested by him in Indifi Technologies during the Seed Round.
WebEngage
Industry: Customer data and marketing automation Investment Amount: $100K (With Other Investors) Funding Round: Angel
WebEngage – Rajan Anandan Funded Startups
WebEngage is a B2C customer data and marketing automation platform that helps companies to boost their revenues. WebEngage assists companies to personalize their website & application and launching targeted campaigns.
This startup received debt funding of $930k from investors in October 2021. WebEngage also received an Angel Investmentof $100k from Rajan Anandan in October 2011
It is an online platform that offers store space for sellers to sell their products online. Instamojo integrates all the services like payments, marketing and shipping into its platform and offers simplified solutions. This company also offers online payment services for businesses.
Instamojo received an undisclosed amount through the Venture Capital round of funding held in June 2021. In May 2013 Instamojo managed to procure $500K as a Seed fund and an undisclosed amount during the Angel Round in July 2012. Anandan was a part of all the above investments.
Dunzo
Industry: E-Commerce Investment Amount: $3.7 million in 2020 and $650K in 2016 (With Other Investors) Funding Round: Series E and Seed
Dunzo – Rajan Anandan Funded Startups
Dunzo is an e-commerce platform that delivers groceries, food, meat, medicines, fruits and vegetables in big cities. It also offers pick-up and delivery services within cities.
Ranjan Anandan invested in Dunzo during its Series E funding in December 2020 and Seed funding in March 2016. The company received funding of $3.7 million and $650K in the respective rounds.
Omnify is an online platform that helps businesses with booking and scheduling solutions in their day-to-day operation. This cloud-based platform also supports businesses with CRM, billing, staff and payment management.
Omnify went through two rounds of Seed Funding in which Anandan has invested. The first round of funding took place in April 2017 and the amount secured was $150K. In October 2020 Omnify went through the second round of funding and the amount remains undisclosed.
Industry: Software Development and AI Investment Amount: $2 million (With Other Investors) Funding Round: Seed
NAYAN – Rajan Anandan Funded Startups
NAYAN is a visual search engine that uses AI-powered software to find details on visuals and images. This platform offers a real-time search facility that can be used to find anything in the public domain. This company received a Seed Fundingof $2 million in January 2020.
AskSid is an e-commerce site that uses AI to offer conversational solutions to customers and deliver a seamless shopping experience for them. This company was acquired by GupShup in April 2022. Rajan Anandan along with Krishnakumar Natarajan invested an undisclosed amount in AskSid during its Angel Round in October 2020.
PlusPin Healthcare partners with pharmacists, clinics, diagnostic centres and doctors to provide affordable healthcare services to people. It guides people with authentic and appropriate medical support in times of need.
Rajan Anandan invested $675K in PlusPin Healthcare along with a few other investors. The company raised this fund through Seed Round.
Freshtohome
Industry: E-Commerce Investment Amount: $11 million (With Other Investors) Funding Round: Series A
Freshtohome – Rajan Anandan Funded Startups
Freshtohome is an online platform that sells fresh fish, meat and chicken online and delivers it to customers’ doorstep at their convenient time. Freshtohome services are available in major cities. The company claims to sell only chemical-free and antibiotic-free fish and meat through its online store.
Freshtohome managed to procure $11 million in its Series A round of funding. Rajan Anandan has participated in Freshtohome’s Venture and Series A funding rounds.
StyleDotMe is an Augmented Reality fashion platform that enhances the jewellery shopping experience of users. This SaaS platform uses MirrAR software that helps users to view themselves in different jewellery and share them on social media.
On May 5, 2019, StyleDotMe received an undisclosed amount as Seed Fund from Rajan Anandan and other investors.
simsim
Industry: E-Commerce Investment Amount: $1.3 million (With Other Investors) Funding Round: Seed
simsim – Rajan Anandan Funded Startups
It is a platform that connects customers with local suppliers and sellers. simsim posts expert review videos on products and sellers. This helps the customers to know their quality. This startup also offers product recommendations in fashion, beauty, kitchen appliances and many more areas.
Rajan Anandan participated in the Seed Funding round of simsim where the startup raised $1.3 million. He later made an exit from the company.
Codejudge
Industry: Software Development Investment Amount: Undisclosed Funding Round: Pre-Seed
Codejudge – Rajan Anandan Funded Startups
Codejudge makes the process of hiring easy and valuable in the tech industry. It uses real-world projects to determine the skills of the developer. This platform simulates and automates the hiring process and helps identify the right person for the team.
Codejudge received an undisclosed amount from the Pre-Seed round of funding in January 2019.
Signzy
Industry: Software Investment Amount: $3.6 million (With Other Investors) Funding Round: Series A
Signzy – Rajan Anandan Funded Startups
Signzy is a software platform that provides AI-powered solutions to banks and other financial institutions. It helps the banks improve their speed and accuracy in dealing with customers and day-to-day operations.
Signzy obtained a $3.6 million fund on November 20, 2018, through a Series A funding round.
Trell
Industry: E-commerce Investment Amount: $1.3 Million (With Other Investors) Funding Round: Pre-Seed
Trell – Rajan Anandan Funded Startups
Trell is a social platform where users can create video reviews on various products and services in categories like fashion, technology, gadgets, movies, etc., This startup allows users to create reviews in 10 Indian languages.
GamingMonk is an eSports gaming platform that conducts online competitive games and events among the gaming community. The company offers its games both online and offline and they can be played either on mobile phones, PC or consoles.
GamingMonk collected $514K through Seed Round. After investing in a seed round, Rajan Anandan exited the company.
PregBuddy is a SaaS platform that serves as a connecting element between hospitals or doctors and expecting mothers. This AI-based software keeps track of mothers’ medical needs and assists them with required healthcare tips.
PregBuddy has been recognized by companies like Google and Apple. Anandan invested an undisclosed amount in the Seed Funding of PregBuddy in April 2018.
Buttercups was an online lingerie platform that used to sell its products exclusively on its online platforms. Unfortunately in 2019, its founder announced that she is closing her company for unsaid reasons.
Rajan Anandan funded Buttercups early in 2018 during its Venture Round. The amount of the investment remains undisclosed.
Industry: Cyber Security Investment Amount: $2.2 million (With Other Investors) Funding Round: Seed
Safe Security – Rajan Anandan Funded Startups
Safe Security is a cyber risk management company that offers assistance and evaluation on cybersecurity and digital business risks. The company claims it as the global leader in its field of operation and a pioneer in cyber risk quantification.
Rajan Anandan along with a few other investors offered $2.2 million to Safe Security during its Seed Round.
myUpchar is a wellness and healthcare platform that offers online medical support from experienced healthcare experts for a small fee. It offers expert solutions for all problems and doubts related to health.
myUpchar received $257K as a Seed Fund from various investors in September 2017.
Inclov is a SaaS platform that is involved in the business of match-making for differently-abled people. It is the world’s first online platform to offer such a service. The company was established in January 2016 in Mumbai.
Funding for the Seed Round took place in September 2017 when Inclov managed to secure $257K from investors.
EasyGov
Industry: Government Investment Amount: Undisclosed Funding Round: Angel
EasyGov – Rajan Anandan Funded Startups
EasyGov is an AI-powered startup that was established to develop an interface between the government and the citizens. The main goal of EasyGov is to take government plans and schemes more accessible and understandable to the people of our country.
The company received an undisclosed amount as an Angel Investment from various investors including Rajan Anandan. He later revoked his investment and exited from EasyGov.
With an aim of supporting farmers, Crofarm functions as a supply chain platform that procures fresh farm products at the right price from producers. These products are then sold to both online and offline retailers. Crofarm received $748K as Seed Fund on August 15, 2017, from various investors.
Monsoon Credit Tech – Rajan Anandan Funded Startups
Monsoon Credit Tech is a fintech startup that works with various banks and financial institutions to help them with money lending. This SaaS platform uses AI-powered software to analyze client data and approve lending options. This company through its Angel Investment round received an undisclosed amount in July 2017.
Karza Technologies – Rajan Anandan Funded Startups
Karza Technologies is another SaaS platform that works with banks to secure loans for its customers. It also helps to avoid loan fraud and data theft from such financial institutions.
Karza Technologies received a Seed Funding of $388K from investors. Later, Rajan Anadanan exited the company for some reasons.
Innov8 Coworking
Industry: Co-working Space Investment Amount: Undisclosed Funding Round: Pre-Seed
Innov8 – Rajan Anandan Funded Startups
Innov8 provides workspaces for business and professional people that enable them to work together with their community. The company’s beautiful workspaces are now available in around five cities.
Innov8 went through a Pre-Seed round of funding where it received an undisclosed amount from investors. Rajan Anandan exited the company after a few years.
Wishberry is a crowdfunding platform that was designed to help creators and artists in securing funds to empower their work. Its main aim is to inspire and encourage creative ideas and activities.
Rajan Anandan invested in Wishberry during its Seed Round in January 2017. The amount of this investment remains undisclosed. Whereas, the amount received through another Seed Round in October 2014 was $652.7K.
Tinychef
Industry: AI and Cooking Investment Amount: $352.6K (With Other Investors) Funding Round: Angel
Tinychef – Rajan Anandan Funded Startups
Tinychef is a culinary platform that offers curated recipes and content based on one’s taste and preference. It is an AI-powered voice recognition software that helps its users turn a home cook with some amazing and delicious food recipes.
Rajan Anandan made both personal and partnered investments in Tinychef. The personal investment was during its Angel Round when the company raised $352.6K. later in 2018, Anandan partnered with Swamy Kotagiri to invest $540.8K in the company.
Rapido started with an innovative idea of bike taxis in India. With their unique concept and adverse marketing strategy, Rapido became quite popular among people. Rapido operates in over 100 cities in the country.
Rapido on October 19, 2016, received an undisclosed amount as a fund from investors through a Seed Round.
Maya
Industry: Women Healthcare Investment Amount: Undisclosed Funding Round: Angel
Maya – Rajan Anandan Funded Startups
Maya is a health tracker app that keeps track of women’s menstrual cycles through a mobile app. This company was earlier known as Plackal Love Cycles.
Maya went through the Angel Round of funding and procured an undisclosed amount from Rajan Anandan and other investors. He later made an exit from the company.
Fulfil.IO helps online retailers with managing and automating their operations and focusing on customer experience and marketing. It helps the businesses in managing orders, finance, inventory, warehouse and many more
Fulfil.IO is another startup that has kept information on its Seed Round undisclosed hence, the amount of investment remains unknown. Anandan was a part of that particular round.
Leflair is an e-commerce platform that sells products on fashion, beauty and furnishings. This Vietnam-based company also sells products from over 2300 luxury brands. Leflair made $750K in its Seed Round held on May 31, 2016. Anandan later revoked his investment and left the company.
Unacademy has become a household name in India. It is an e-learning platform that offers numerous learning aids and lectures on diverse areas of education. It was started with the motto of giving a better learning experience for the students in the country.
HashLearn is another e-learning app that tutors students with content based on actions. It makes learning fun and interesting. This company was acquired by Byju’s in 2021.
HashLearn went through a Venture Round of funding and secured an undisclosed amount in March 2016. Anandan exited the company in its later stage.
Smartcooky
Industry: Media & Entertainment Investment Amount: Undisclosed Funding Round: Angel
Smartcooky – Rajan Anandan Funded Startups
Smartcooky is a venture of NDTV that was established to sell healthy foods and personal care products. It also publishes articles and information on food and health regularly. But NDTV shut the company in 2017 without giving any formal reasons for its closure.
During its Angel Round, Rajan Anandan invested an undisclosed amount in Smartcooky.
AppVirality is a referral marketing SaaS company that customizes, analyzes and automates customer referral activities. This helps the businesses to pitch their growth plan on the right path.
AppVirality received $500K as a Seed Fund from investors. This funding happened during the third quarter of 2015. This startup went through another round of Seed Funding in early 2015 when it collected $465K from Anandan and a few others.
Zenatix is a venture of Hero Electronix that was established in 2013. It is an asset management company based on IoT. Zenatix provides infrastructural solutions for construction that helps to minimize energy consumption and increase and maintain the structure’s life.
A Seed Fund of $200K was received by Zenatix from investors in 2015. However, Rajan Anandan exited the startup later.
Little Black Book
Industry: Events and Lifestyle Investment Amount: $150K (With Other Investors) Funding Round: Seed
Little Black Book – Rajan Anandan Funded Startups
Little Black Book is a site that helps to identify the best and most recommended products, places, local experiences, destinations and many more.
Little Black Book procured $150K from investors during its Seed Round of funding.
Mypoolin is an online payment application that helps users to send and receive money using UPI. The company was started with the main goal to provide simple and convenient solutions for payment-related activities.
Anandan left the company and took back his support for unsaid reasons. Before exiting Mypoolin he invested in the company’s Seed Round.
Dazo is a food startup that enables its customers to look for and order their food from the restaurants of their interest within seconds of opening its app. The company partnered with a few hotels to provide this service. But within a year of its inception, Dazo was forced to shut down due to a lack of funds.
Rajan Anandan invested in this startup during its Seed Round. Dazo managed to procure $236.6K from investors during its initial days.
Mapmygenome
Industry: Healthcare Investment Amount: $1.5 million (With Other Investors) Funding Round: Angel
Mapmygenome – Rajan Anandan Funded Startups
Mapmygenome is a diagnostic company that offers solutions to health issues based on genetic tests. It combines the genetic test results with the health history of the patient to arrive at a better solution for the problem.
Mapmygenome collected $1.5 million from our Angel Investor and others during its Seed Round.
InstaLively
Industry: Video Streaming Investment Amount: $120K (With Other Investors) Funding Round: Seed
InstaLively – Rajan Anandan Funded Startups
InstaLively is a platform to broadcast LIVE events with easy and simple procedures. This software also links the live stream to your Youtube channel directly. InstaLively was later acquired by Hike Messenger in 2017.
InstaLively made an amount of $120K in its Seed Round which was held on March 2, 2015.
ZipGo
Industry: Transportation Investment Amount: $3 Million (With Other Investors) Funding Round: Seed
ZipGo – Rajan Anandan Funded Startups
ZipGo is a commute service that is available only for members and reservors. Regular commuters can book a seat in this on-demand AC bus service using the ZipGo app. It offers its services between many cities and states.
The company attracted investors with its innovative ideas and received a sum of $3 million in the Seed Round itself.
GiftCardsIndia carries numerous ideas for gifts for all the occasions. It also offers gift cards and gift vouchers with fantastic designs and exciting prices. This startup is a one-stop shop for our gifting needs.
In the Venture Round of funding that was held on November 11, 2014, this startup received an undisclosed amount as an investment.
POPxo
Industry: Health & Lifestyle Investment Amount: $500K (With Other Investors) Funding Round: Angel
POPxo – Rajan Anandan Funded Startups
POPxo is a hangout space exclusively for women where they talk and share anything of their choice. It operates in a wide variety of categories like fashion, food, travel, lifestyle, fitness, etc., POPxo is now available in 6 languages. POPxo procured $500K from investors during the Angel Round.
Socialblood Inc
Industry: Healthcare, Social Media Investment Amount: $96.5K (With Other Investors) Funding Round: Seed
Socialblood – Rajan Anandan Funded Startups
Socialblood is an online platform that was designed to bring together blood donors and the people in need of blood. Facebook serves as its major operation base which makes it easier for the startup to bring in more donors.
Sociablood went through two rounds of Seed Funding and received $36.5K and $60K in them. Rajan Anandan invested in both rounds.
SocialCops
Industry: Information Technology Investment Amount: $320K (With Other Investors) Funding Round: Seed
SocialCops – Rajan Anandan Funded Startups
SocialCops is a data intelligence company that has partnered with various organizations and governments to collect and publish data. These data, in turn, are used to make crucial decisions and future assessments.
In the Seed Round held in July 2014, SocialCops managed to receive a fund of $320K from investors.
LetsVenture is a company that acts as a support system for startups. It helps the new ventures raise investors’ money by finding the right source with possible means. LetsVenture has grown to become a trusted source among investors.
Rajan Anandan participated in the Seed Round of LetsVenture and became a part of the total investment of $650K.
Ciafo is a software company that is involved in the creation of software based on customer needs. In simple terms, this startup is involved in the business of web-based consumer products. Ciafo was funded with $245K during its Angel Round.
Avaz
Industry: Software, Language Learning Investment Amount: $550K (With Other Investors) Funding Round: Seed
Avaz – Rajan Anandan Funded Startups
Avaz is a company that develops software named ‘Awaz’ to help people with speech disabilities. This tool gives voice to people with autism and helps them communicate their thoughts. A sum of $550K was invested in Avaz as a part of its Seed Round held in April 2014.
Frrole is a consumer intelligence platform that gathers and analyzes customer data to give business owners, sales persons, or hirers market insights. Similar to Ciafo, Frrole was given $245K from Anandan and other investors during the Angel Round.
Threadsol
Industry: Business Intelligence, Fashion Investment Amount: $200K (With Other Investors) Funding Round: Seed
Threadsol – Rajan Anandan Funded Startups
Threadsol is software that helps manufacturers in planning and buying fabrics for their production. It reduces time and makes the process seamless using its innovative technology. The company Coats acquired Threadsol in December 2018.
In the Seed Round that happened in 2014, Threadsol received an investment of $200K from investors. Rajan Anandan made no further investment in the company and also revoked his initial investment made during the Seed Round.
TravelKhana
Industry: Food Delivery Investment Amount: $2 million (With Other Investors) Funding Round: Seed
TravelKhana – Rajan Anandan Funded Startups
TravelKhana is a food delivery app but on a train. The food gets delivered to your seat on time when ordered. This app can track trains in real-time to make on-time food deliveries. A whopping sum of $2 million was pumped into TravelKhana by Rajana Anandan and other investors as a part of its Seed Round.
Airwoot is a customer support platform that offers real-time support to customers in need of assistance. Its intelligent customer experience software automatically identifies the customers in need and helps businesses conserve time. Airwoot received an undisclosed amount from investors during its Angel Round in August 2013. Anandan later left the company and took back his investment. The reason for his exit remains unknown.
Designed as the functional programming language, transforming data is the major purpose of Dataweave. It also helps to analyze public data in a uniform format on the web. On April 25, 2013, Dataweave received a Seed Fund of $270K from multiple investors for developing its business.
Lumos Design Technology – Rajan Anandan Funded Startups
Lumos Design Technology was established with a motto to make cycling and cyclists safer with the use of modern technologies. It manufactures backpacks, solar chargers and other consumer electronics that are used for traveling. A sum of $32K was offered to Lumos Design Technology by Anandan and others during the Angel Round.
Industry: Digital Marketing Investment Amount: $4 million (With Other Investors) Funding Round: Series A
Mobilewalla – Rajan Anandan Funded Startups
Mobilewalla is a consumer intelligence platform that provides solutions for companies, brands and agencies. It is a Singapore-based company founded in March 2011. It analyzes consumer data with AI to arrive at a perfect result.
Mobilewalla received a huge sum of $4 million from a Series A funding round that was held in February 2013.
Myshaadi.in is an online startup that offers wedding-related services. It helps people with profile personalization and finds the best wedding partner for their life. Myshaadi.in received an undisclosed amount from angel investors like Rajan Anandan and others during the Angel Round held in April 2012.
Aurality is a software developed by Aurality Technologies Pvt Ltd. This platform helps people convert texts from blogs, articles, and news sites into audio format quickly and easily. Aurality received $300K from investors as a Seed Fund.
Reach Accountant offers the best service that can replace the accountant in one’s office. It performs the daily and monthly accounting services that an office requires. The data are stored online, hence it becomes accessible anywhere anytime. The fund received by Reach Accountant from investors during its Angel Round was not revealed by the company.
MissMalini Entertainment
Industry: Media and Entertainment Investment Amount: Undisclosed Funding Round: Angel
MissMalini Entertainment – Rajan Anandan Funded Startups
Rajan Anandan exited the company after investing an undisclosed amount during its Angel Round of funding.
authorSTREAM.com
Industry: Software Investment Amount: $5 million (With Other Investors) Funding Round: Series A
authorSTREAM – Rajan Anandan Funded Startups
authorSTREAM is a web platform that allows users to upload and share PowerPoint presentations. The presentations can be shared through Youtube, blogs websites, etc., authorSTREAM received a whopping sum of $5 million from its Series A round held in December 2010.
Conclusion
The above are the startups that received funds from Rajan Anandan. Instead of focusing on the startup’s sector, Anandan gave importance to the founder’s vision, passion and clarity towards their business. He never failed to support a team with the said qualities. The number of investments he made shows his passion and love for startups and budding entrepreneurs.
FAQs
Who is Rajan Anandan?
Rajan Anandan is an Angel Investor and businessman who is the MD of Sequoia Capital India.
Which are the top startups funded by Rajan Anandan?
Some successful startups funded by Rajan Anandan are:
POPxo
Dunzo
Unacademy
GamingMonk
Trell
Rapido
Appknox
MissMalini Entertainment
LetsVenture
Smytten
InnovAccer
Indifi Technologies
What is the net worth of Rajan Anandan?
Rajan Anandan’s net worth is expected to be over $1 million.
Startups fail and the reasons are many. While everyone loves to hear about success stories, it’s the failures that teach a greater lesson. Bangalore based ‘Doodhwala’, a promising startup delivering fresh milk and groceries direct to doorstep, recently stopped operations and the news has concerned the startup community. However, the reason for the shut down is not known yet. As communicated by the founders of ‘Doodhwala’, ‘FreshToHome’—another Bangalore based startup delivering meat and sea food—will now serve the subscribers of ‘Doodhwala’ in Bangalore. While we are still figuring out what could be the reason behind the wind up, lets have a look at Doodhwala’s journey.
Founded in 2015, Doodhwala was the first in Bangalore to bring fresh farm milk directly to customers. Besides Bangalore, Doodhwala operated in Hyderabad and Pune. The startup delivered milk, fresh dairy products, groceries, fruits, and other fresh daily essentials direct to home.
Doodhwala was launched with the vision to be the largest and most loved fresh milk & daily essentials delivery service across India, taking pride in excellent customer service and enhancing India’s disorganized milk delivery network, employee satisfaction, and return on investment.
Doodhwala shut down
Doodhwala – Founders and Team
Doodhwala – Founders
Ebrahim Akbari and Aakash Agrawal founded Doodhwala in 2015.
EbrahimAkbari, is an engineer by training, a serial entrepreneur by profession, and a marketer by passion. Along with his co-founder, he scaled Doodhwala from a 5 member team to a 400 member company in just three years, making Doodhwala India’s largest subscription-based e-grocer. Ebrahim leads Doodhwala’s growth and geo expansion. He brings on board a unique perspective on business strategies combined with rich experience of effectively deploying business resources. A savvy negotiator with inherent entrepreneurial skills, he understands the entire supply chain industry and has co-founded a business model that has revolutionized the way people in India are buying milk and local dairies are selling milk.
Prior to establishing Doodhwala, Ebrahim Akbari was heading a 20-year-old family business of Industrial Field Supplies in Oman. As a Managing Partner, his focus was on scaling the business across and outside Oman along with looking for new growth areas and markets. Within a year of Akbari’s leadership, the company’s turnover increased by 30% and geo-expansion in Dubai proved to be a profitable move within the first year of operations.
Ebrahim, is a skilled theatre artist, an avid reader, and a gold medalist swimmer. A regular speaker at industry forums and platforms, Ebrahim recently spoke at the VCC Food and AgriSummit and The National Food Processing Conclave, in New Delhi.
Aakash Agrawal has a proven track record of successfully leading a company’s operations and sales. He previously co-started a steel fabrication company, UPPL, in 2010 in Odhisa where he drove operations and infrastructure implementation. Under his leadership, the firm within 5 years of successful operations clocked INR 20 crore of turnover, and won the ‘Vendor of The Year’. Post Aakash’s exit, UPPL is one of the very few board run SMEs in India catering to the heavy engineering industry.
Aakash spearheads the logistics and operations of Doodhwala. He possesses an entrepreneurial mindset, employing strong team leadership to create an outsized impact with limited resources. With rich and multi-functional expertise, Aakash has created competitive advantages in key operational areas for Doodhwala and developed a cost-effective omni-channel distribution/logistics network.
A great believer in the saying, ‘we will either find a way or make one’, Aakash spends much of his spare time reading about politics, history, current affairs, and traveling around the world.
Within three years, Doodhwala grew from two people to an organization of 1000 people.
One late night in 2014, Aakash and Ebrahim were working on a different business project, working and munching on cereal with milk. They realized that there was no milk for the second serving of cereals. This left them wondering how life would have been easier if there had been an app for ordering milk. Soon they grasped that they unknowingly stumbled upon a great business idea which was too exciting to let them sleep.
They wanted to immediately check the feasibility of this idea, and so around 4 in the morning, they were out and about to see how the milk supply market actually worked. This was followed by weeks of research and surveys and finally, they launched a beta version to test the market. They were amazed at the response they received. Consumers loved the idea of hassle-free home delivery of milk. They were looking for a new age ‘Doodhwala’ (milkman in Hindi), and this laid the foundation of Doodhwala.
Consumers were looking for better ways to find good quality unadulterated farm milk, they are for an organized hassle-free way to get milk. They, in a nutshell, wanted a punctual, cost-effective, and a non-traditional option. Led by the increasing level of urbanization across the Indian population as urban consumers prefer clean, hygienic and ready-to-drink milk and dairy products – quoted Doodhwala co-founder Ebrahim Akbari
Doodhwala – Name, Tagline, and Logo
Doodhwala was designed to be the 2.0 version of the traditional Doodhwala. Doodhwala’s tagline is “India’s largest fresh milk delivery app”.
In a nutshell, the tagline spells out that we set standards of excellence in fresh milk & daily needs delivery by being one of the pioneers in this space, and by innovating cutting edge mobile technology .
Doodhwala Logo
Doodhwala – App
The Doodhwala mobile app lets users order fresh milk and groceries easily.
Fresh milk is a part of every household’s regular purchase. Traditionally, Indians have been reliant on their local milkmen for milk, but the urban India crowd needed something more than just milk – they need ease, freshness, and reliability. That’s the problem Doodhwala solved.
Variety of milk is a convenience that neither the local doodhwala nor the kirana store can match. Doodhwala boasted of the largest variety of milk. The platform had 70+ types of milk. Be it A2 milk, organic milk, goat milk, camel milk, or lactose-free milk, Doodhwala offered varieties to suit eclectic dietary requirements, making it the ultimate destination for all kinds of milk.
Besides milk, Doodhwala also delivered fresh dairy products, confectionery, bakery products, juices, fruits and vegetables, other grocery consumables, personal care products and many other items of your daily needs right to your doorstep.
Some USPs of the Doodhwala app were:
An easy to use app to manage for all your daily essentials, with trusted deliveries before 7 am even for orders placed until 11 pm the night before.
Subscription or creating a customizable delivery schedule made it easy to plan all repetitive purchases.
One can easily modify, cancel or pause one’s subscription at any given time.
The no checkout feature (no constant topping of wallet) was a sure favourite amongst customers.
Zero delivery charges.
Doodhwala Warehouse
Doodhwala – Business Model and How it works
There many things Doodhwala did differently than previous and current players that made its business model robust and cost-effective.
The main highlights of Doodhwala’s business model were:
The hybrid model for last mile workforce – Consisted of existing milkmen and part-time workers.
Efficient mapping of delivery routes – Significantly lesser number of delivery executives were required to complete ‘x’ amount of deliveries since all the delivery routes were mapped efficiently.
Lower dependence on manual strength – Planned delivery leading to a lower dependency on delivery executives as well as inventory.
Unlimited Delivery Base – Focus on morning delivery helped easier hiring – basically, anyone interested in working for a few hours in the morning could be a Doodhwala delivery executive.
Resource optimization – Planned demand reduced inefficiencies and optimizes better utilization of resources.
Drastically reduced cost – The right combination of technology and process in every step of the cycle – procurement, warehousing, and sorting reduced cost.
Predictive inventory – Subscription model made way for strong predictive inventory algorithms which ensured almost zero wastage.
Advanced algorithms – Cost-benefit approach towards technology laid such that every implementation either increased revenue or decreased cost across Doodhwala’s supply chains
Single delivery slot network – The network of milk delivery guaranteed low mid-mile costs due to an obvious reason i.e, no traffic in the morning hours. Plus, it also guaranteed no peak hour rush.
Market and Demand Analysis – Adoption of Omni channel is driven by digital demand. It allows optimization on the logistical front, better inventory management across all points of sale.
High customer density – To curtail last mile costs, Doodhwala completed 10000 deliveries every hour. Each delivery executive completed 100 deliveries in a 3-hour shift.
Efficacy of micro-delivery model over on-demand fleet – Ensured higher customer engagement and focused on high frequency – everyday delivery.
Since milk allows for high frequency and a daily delivery model which means for an ‘n’ number of deliveries to a customer we don’t have any additional cost i.e, no incremental delivery cost. Secondly, focusing on high density allows for costs which are 1/10th with 6-10 times efficiency. We also implement a clever usage of modern-day Technology. Thirdly our Unique business model has allowed us to scale and stay one step ahead of the competition – Ebrahim said explaining the business model.
Doodhwala raised more than $14.2 Million in funding in 3 rounds. Doodhwala’s funding details are:
Funding Date
Funding Stage
Funding Amount
Investors
August 2017
Seed Round
Undisclosed
Tom Varkey
February 2018
Seed Round
$2.2 million
Omnivore Partners
November 2018
Series A
$12 million
Undisclosed
We have always believed that the philosophy of ‘raise only when you need to’ is a golden rule which is ignored too often at an early stage of a business. Most founders raise too early and end up diluting a significant portion of their equity before the business establishes itself. Aakash and I retain over 80% of the equity even though Doodhwala is the largest milktech company at 13 lakh liters of milk a month. Having a sound cap table is particularly attractive to potential investors, for it greatly assists founders in later stages of their business – Ebrahim
Doodhwala – Advisors and Mentors
Cristina Berta Jones, the former COO of Naspers, served as an Advisor and board member. Cristina brings several years of strategic leadership experience in spearheading mergers and acquisitions, portfolio management, and strategy for prominent B2C E-Commerce companies. She led the largest divestiture of Allegro group for $3.25B and was pivotal in driving the MakeMyTrip and Ibibo merger. She previously served on the board of Flipkart, Souq.com, eMAG, Takealot, Konga, and TBO Holidays.
Doodhwala – Startup Challenges
According to Ebrahim, the last mile delivery is the biggest challenge for every e-tailer in this country. Low efficiency of resources and route-planning problems are the core issues that cause the whole system to be inefficient and expensive. This paired with the challenges in delivery infrastructure bring additional problems to the state of the last mile. However, Doodhwala had a hybrid model for its last mile workforce which consisted of existing milkmen and part-time labor.
We require a lesser number of boys to complete x amount of deliveries since our delivery routes are mapped efficiently. in other words, we have a lower dependency on labor. This ensures we never have peaking problems.
Within 3 years of operations, Doodhwala witnessed extremely rapid growth:
The company was doing around 30,000 deliveries a day.
It grew 5 times during 2018-2019 with an 85% customer retention rate. While most companies and online e-commerce retailers struggle with the frequency of purchases, Doodhwala received customers at a minimum of once a week for a recurring purchase, making its retention rates one of the highest in the industry.
Doodhwala was one of the largest milk e-tailers moving 13 lakh liters monthly and had the highest delivery fulfillment rate at 99.8%.
Doodhwala had industry’s lowest operational cost at 5% cost of sales.
Doodhwala’s shut down, despite having a wide base of happy customers, left many guessing the possible reasons behind the shuttering.
FAQs
What is a Doodhwala?
Doodhwala was a milk delivery startup.
Who has founded Doodhwala?
Aakash Agrawal and Ebrahim Akbari has founded it in 2015.
Nitin Konde
