Zappfresh, a high-quality meat delivery brand run by DSM Fresh Food Pvt. Ltd in Gurugram has obtained a funding of Rs 20 crore in pre-Series A funding from Amit Burman, Vice Chairman of Dabur India and SIDBI Venture Capital.
The funds have been raised to help the company drive its business strategy effectively and expand their supply chain and geographical reach.
Since the beginning of their operations in 2015, the company was able to successfully break even from the first eight months after receiving a modest angel funding from strategic investors who mentored and guided the company to grow exponentially over the next three years.
From their brand new factory, the company is able to provide their service to the entire Delhi NCR region.
The aim of Zappfresh is to modernize the rather unorganized Indian meat industry. The firm does that by obtaining meat from farms and ensuring that the product arrives to the final customer in the predefined time slot on the same day of the order placement on the portal. The company thus sells raw and ready-to-cook meat as well. The meat delivery company makes use of state-of-the-art packaging techniques to preserve the freshness and hygiene of the meat before the item is delivered to the customers.
Zappfresh has already outlined its strategy to leverage the funds raised to strengthen its technological support, expand its team, enhance their product and increase its community. By improving its tech infrastructure, Zappfresh will have the means to improve the features of an already well-received app and website and thus deliver a better online shopping experience of meat.
Zappfresh wishes to provide hygienic and clean meat to its customers and bring a revolution to the loose/wet meat found on the market currently. They also look forward to bring standards of hygiene, transparency and quality across all their supply chain. The way they buy and sell meat has considerably changed over their three years of operations and will see additional changes over the next decade. While most organized players focus mostly on exports, the Indian market is poised at a satisfactory 15 percent annual CAGR.
This new round of funding sends a signal to take this business category more seriously which holds a lot of potential and concerning Zappfresh, investors like Burman are determined to offer the proper connections and help to scale up the operations and profits to a higher level.
“I see a great potential in the ‘e-market for meat’ and Zappfresh has had an impressive growth story. The business model is innovative and the use of technology in the supply chain management has allowed for the possibility of a sustainable scale up capability. I look forward to be part of this venture and its success,” said VC Dabur India, Amit Burman.
“Investing in a firm many times translates to investing in an idea with the potential to scale up. This in my mind is the story of Zappfresh. The fresh meat industry is highly fragmented and digitization of the market can also improve the value chain operating system of this industry. Zappfresh’s promise to offer a hassle-free meat buying experience of highest quality is unique and has great potential,” said Sr. VP, SIDBI Venture Capital, Sajit Kumar.
“The company would use the funds to hire people in key departments and increase storage capacity. We are very excited to have Burman and SIDBI Venture Capital on board believing in our business and supporting our expansion plans. This investment will aid our back-end support along with expansion in newer markets after having laid a strong foundation in Delhi-NCR,” said CEO and co-founder Zappfresh, Deepanshu Manchanda.
“We are very pleased with this new financial capability and guidance from industry veterans. This will further improve and expand our offering of farm to fork fresh produce and ensure that every household has access to right quality of meats,” said co-founder, Zappfresh, Shruti Gochhwal.