Wheelocity raises $12 million for its supply chain network for fresh commerce in India – TechCrunch
Summary
Anicut Capital and a few other investors also participated in the round.Founded in September 2021, Wheelocity provides quick commerce firms with a supply chain of fresh food. The startup says its supply chain network integrates collection centers, fulfilment and distribution centers, last mile hubs, dark stores and logistics.Fresh commerce as a category has been operating in a very traditional way over the last 2,000 years, so to say, said Selvam VMS, founder and CEO at Wheelocity, in a telephonic interview. It has a team of over 350 members that it is planning to expand across roles in product, technology and operations, among others, over the next six months.Though Wheelocity started its business with fruits and vegetables, it has since expanded to areas including dairy, seafood, meat and poultry.Over the next 12 months, the startup is aiming to reach over 30 more cities in India.Prior to the funding round, Wheelocity was bootstrapped. The founding team that includes co-founders Amresh Singh and Senthil Kumar along with VMS had invested $6,30,000$7,50,000 into the business, VMS told TechCrunch.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, said Rahul Taneja, Partner at Lightspeed, in a statement.Wheelocity is planning to deploy its fundraise to build new product offerings on farm side operations and build technology-powered supply chains to reduce and eliminate food wastage, it said. It is also building Internet of Things (IoT)-based packing units, AI-based work solutions and warehouse/ logistics automation.Instant commerce is making fast inroads in India.