5 rising startups in India – April 12, 2017

Photo credit: Pixabay.

Two SaaS (software-as-a-service) startups make the cut in this roundup of rising startups in India. Others include a lingerie retailer, a hackathon holder, and a startup connecting farmers with retailers and restaurants in Bangalore.

Ninjacart

Photo credit: Trocaire.

Ninjacart helps over 1,000 farmers sell their fruits and vegetables to restaurants and retailers in Bangalore, cutting out traditional middlemen. This gives fresher produce to buyers as well as better returns to farmers. Ninjacart has now raised US$5.5 million from Accel Partners, Nandan Nilekani’s NRJN Trust, Mistletoe, Qualcomm Ventures, and M&S Partners to scale up. It intends to use the funds to expand its team and invest in supply chain automation and data analytics.

In India, nearly a third of vegetables and fruits get wasted because of an inefficient supply chain and limited cold storage and distribution facilities. But Ninjacart claims it has less than 4 percent wastage in the supply chain.

“If you visit the city markets early morning, you will be shocked to see the way vegetables are stored and handled. At Ninjacart, all vegetables are handled in crates which are cleaned frequently and follow a one-touch handling method,” says Ninjacart co-founder Sharath Loganathan.

“The team has built a just-in-time logistics system, with which they are able to get the produce from farm to stores in less than 14 hours,” adds Nandan Nilekani, co-founder of Infosys whose trust invested in Ninjacart.

Ninjacart began in 2015 as an on-demand grocery delivery startup, but soon realized the bigger problem was in the back-end supply chain and logistics. Then it pivoted its business.

See: This startup wants to solve India’s farmer problems with data and tech

Squad

Photo credit: artisticco / 123RF Stock Photo.

Delhi and San Francisco-based SaaS startup Squad has raised US$2.1 million from Blume Ventures, Contrarian Capital, 91springboard, Emergent Ventures, Abstract Ventures, Anthill Ventures, and Axilor Ventures. Its cloud-based software helps data-intensive businesses like ecommerce marketplaces break down business processes into efficient workflows. It then uses a combination of automation and an army of 75,000 people working out of their homes for simple tasks like curation of content and tagging products.

“We are excited by the disruption Squad is bringing to the outsourcing industry with its distributed workforce model,” says SD Shibulal, co-founder of IT giant Infosys and Axilor Ventures.

HackerEarth

Clovia

DataWeave