Otipy, a farm-to-fork agritech platform, connects consumers, resellers, and farmers to provide fresh produce within 12 hours. AI and business intelligence help the startup estimate demand and reduce food waste…
Modern food supply chains need farm-to-fork platforms for freshness, quality, farmer engagement, transparency, traceability, and accessibility.
These platforms encourage local agriculture, limit environmental impact, and ensure quality. They help rural development and bridge the urban-rural divide by giving small farmers market access.
Otipy was formed in 2020 by Varun Khurana with a similar premise, utilizing AI and business intelligence.
Gurugram-based A B2B2C community-based agritech platform, Otipy connects consumers, resellers, and farmers to deliver fresh fruit within 12 hours. The firm predicts demand and reduces food waste with AI.
We buy directly from farmers based on demand projections. Khurana, CEO of Crofarm Agriproducts Pvt Ltd.’s Otipy, believes this eliminates intermediaries, ensures fair payments, and empowers farmers.
Otipy combines data regression and machine learning to effectively estimate item demand based on over 40 criteria, including previous customer orders, seasonality, pricing, temperature, and holidays. The creator argues this method helps farmers plan and harvest crops and assures consumers get fresh product when they need it.
Otipy was inspired by Khurana’s time at Grofers, an online grocery delivery service.
After Grofers, I spent time on farms and realized there was a big difference between end-user quality and farm quality. He adds heavy wastage reinforced this difference, resulting in consumers paying a high premium over farmers’ selling prices.
Otipy’s parent firm, Crofarm, initially struggled with poor profits, longer credit periods, and payment collection as a B2B company. Otipy became a B2B2C fresh produce delivery company four years after its debut.
The startup employs over 500 people.
The Otipy ecommerce app sells farm-fresh produce. Its private labels include House of Fresh for freshly baked bakery items, One Farm for grains, spices, oils, and dry fruits from farms, and Farm Tale for milk within hours.
Over 1,300 daily-use FMCG from Farmers Moo, Earthwise, Danodia Foods, Pehle Jaisa, Aashirwaad, Fortune, Haldirams, Britannia, Tata, Daawat, Dhara, Nutraj, Bikano, and Paperboat are available from the startup.
Through partnerships with nearly 20,000 small farmers and 100 farmer producer organizations, Otipy helps farmers estimate demand, plan and harvest crops, and make informed decisions. The portal helps farmers access excellent seeds, fertilisers, and funding to maximise agricultural yields and profitability.
After quality tests, farmers receive weekly payments and a complete invoice for their produce. Farmers receive a ledger via their preferred means weekly after payments are completed.
Minimizing waste and quality control
Even in summer, Otipy farms have pre-cooling systems to keep produce fresh. These machines keep product cooler than ambient temperature, prolonging shelf life and reducing quality loss.
Khurana believes this reduces temperature shocks and preserves relative humidity.
Temperature and humidity control systems in Otipy warehouses keep products fresh. The business developed software that optimizes sorting, grading, various quality checks, and packaging in four hours.
Due of its 12-hour delivery approach, the firm does not need long-term storage.
Khurana says, “The supply chains are designed for speed, so the produce spends minimum time in the process and hence undergoes minimum degradation and wastage.”
Farmers can track produce from field to warehouse using a blockchain-based traceability system.
We can also identify the produce’s source and quality with the traceability system. Khurana said farmers are paid to preserve quality.
Tech like live rider and package tracking helps Otipy bridge the last-mile logistics gap.
The business claims its warehouse-to-consumer logistics costs Rs 4 per kg, compared to Rs 6–8 ordinarily. Throughout the farm-to-fork value chain, waste reduction has increased 10X from 30-40% to under 4%.
Otipy serves Delhi NCR, Mumbai, Sonipat, Meerut, and Bhiwadi.
EY expects the Indian agritech sector to reach $24 billion by 2025. Major players in the segment include Big Basket Daily, MilkBasket, and Country Delight.
Khurana says Otipy’s prediction methodology and farm-gate pre-cooling set it apart.
The startup earned Rs 115 crore in FY23 on 32% gross margins. Active users rose from 96,324 to 1,106,499 in two years.
With over 1,000 resellers and 20,000 farmers, Otipy transfers 160 tonnes of fresh product daily.
Last March, Westbridge Capital, SIG, and Omidyar Network India led a $32 million Series B round. It seeks $75 million in Series C capital for development and innovation. It also wants to serve Bengaluru, Hyderabad, and Chennai.
By March 2024, the agritech platform wants to earn Rs 210 crore and add 1.5 million customers. Milk, paneer, lentils, grains, and spices will also be added.
The business is also considering brand partnerships, school farm visits, restaurant collaborations, and corporate interactive screens as revenue streams.
Conclusion
Otipy, a promising agritech firm, is changing the Indian food supply chain. Otipy makes fresh, high-quality produce more affordable and accessible by reducing food waste and connecting farmers and consumers.
The startup’s rapid development and ambitious goals indicate that it could dominate the Indian agritech market. From farmers to consumers, Otipy’s success would benefit the food supply system.
