Ninjacart raises $34.6 million in Series B funding from Accel, Syngenta and others

In a bid to expand its operations to new geographies, Bengaluru-based agritech startup Ninjacart has scooped up $34.6 million (INR 250 crore) in its Series B funding round. The investment round witnessed participation from Accel Partners, Syngenta Ventures, Neoplux, ZIGxN founder Jo Hirao, HR Capital, and Trifecta Capital.

Along with them, the existing investors of the company, including Accel India, Nandan Nilekani, Mistletoe and Qualcomm Ventures also participated in this funding round.

As said, the startup will use the capital for expanding operations to new geographies. It will also spend money on strengthening its product and technology team. The company says that it is also looking to invest in improving the supply chain infrastructure.

For expansion, the company is planning to kick-off operations in more than 10 cities and also have over 200 distribution centers. Eventually, it will also ramp up hiring for its platform.

Thirukumaran Nagarajan, CEO and co-founder of Ninjacart said,

Our focus will be on expanding to new markets and continue to innovate on behalf of our farmers and customers – and this will come from continued investments in talent, technology and supply chain infrastructure.

This is the third fund raise for the company in this year. In March, the company had secured around $1 million in debt funding from Trifecta Capital. Later, in July, the startup raised about $4.9 million in Series A round from Accel, NRJN Trust, and others.

Ninjacart was founded in 2015 by Thirukumaran Nagarajan, Kartheeswaran K K, Ashutosh Vikram, Sharath Loganathan, and Vasudevan Chinnathambi. The company is operating an online platform that directly connects farmers with businesses. The company says that it is aiming to increase the farmers’ incomes, reduce food wastage, introduce competitive prices for retailers and ensure quality food for all consumers.

The startup currently operates in Bengaluru, Hyderabad, and Chennai and has employed a team of over 750 employees. It has a sourcing network of more than 3,000 farmers across South India and transports fresh produce from farm to about ,4000 retailers in less than 12 hours of picking on a daily basis.