SUMMARY
The Crofarm owned startup is looking to move beyond Delhi and Mumbai and enter cities like Hyderabad, Bengaluru, and Chennai by the end of this year
The startup will be integrating its platform with PhonePe’s Pincode and Paytm initially and expand to other ONDC buyer platforms subsequently
Otipy intends to increase their existing user base of 1.5 Lakh per month to 10 Lakh by the end of the year with the integration
Otipy, an agritech startup selling fresh produce via its Android and iOS apps, has joined the government-backed open network for digital commerce (ONDC) to scale up its consumer base via the open network’s seller apps Pincode and Paytm.
Founded in 2020 by Varun Khurana and Prashant Jain, Otipy, which is part of Crofarm Agriproducts, is a B2B2C social commerce platform for fresh produce that includes vegetables, fruits, dairy and other grocery items.
Otipy said that it uses its technology to procure fresh produce from farmers based on the predictive demands calculated by its prediction engines, and delivers the goods to customers within 12 hours of harvest. It has also claimed that it has the industry’s lowest wastage of 3%.
Khurana told Inc42 that the company has been able to optimise its supply chain between farm and delivery homes within 12 hours, with additional tests for heavy metal and pesticides, among others on the products.
Initially operational to the Delhi-NCR region, Khurana said that the startup was able to expand to Mumbau after raising fresh funds to the tune of $32 Mn in its Series B round in 2022 from investors like SIG and Omidyar Network India. He said the startup is currently doing an annual recurring revenue (ARR) of INR 240 Cr.
Otipy is also looking to expand into cities like Hyderabad, Bengaluru and Chennai by the end of this year. This is expected on the back of the startup planning to raise its Series C funding of around $75 Mn in the second half of CY 2024.
Khurana believes that the partnership with ONDC will bolster the company’s footprint expansion plan across India.
Through ONDC, Otipy aims to be present at multiple touchpoints for its end consumers. Further, it will also focus on bulk procurement directly from Farmers and Farmer Producer Organisations (FPOs).
“The move beyond NCR has shown that our business model is capable of handling multi-city operations. With the ONDC integration, we believe we will be increasing our user base by getting onboard large buyer apps that have partnered with ONDC. We are expecting to increase our existing user base of 1.5 Lakh per month to 10 Lakh by the end of the year,” Khurana said.
“With Otipy on the Open Network, it not only stands to benefit from an extensive reach of the network but also reinforces its commitment to fostering a sustainable and inclusive ecommerce framework,” said ONDC’s MD and CEO T Koshy.
The startup will be integrating its platform with PhonePe’s Pincode and Paytm initially and expand to other buyer platforms subsequently.
It is pertinent to note that Otipy’s parent Crofarm Agriproducts posted a
56% rise in its total revenue from operations to INR 96.43 Cr in FY23 from INR 61.84 Cr in the previous fiscal.
However, its losses jumped 49% to INR 100 Cr in FY23 from Rs 67.29 Cr in the previous fiscal year.
Along with Otipy, the company also owns milk product distributor Farm Tale and grains and oils distributor One Farm.
Otipy competes against the likes of Ninjacart, Farmiso and Citymall, among others.
According to a market study, the Indian agritech startup ecosystem is looking at a total market opportunity worth $24 Bn by 2025, and as per Inc42’s analysis, these startups have secured more than $2.4 Bn since 2014.
On the other hand, Otipy is the second agritech startup to get onboard on ONDC. SaaS-based B2B agritech startup FarMart joined the network in September last year.
