WAYCOOL

W a y Co o l i s a s ta r t up w hi c h ha s w o r ke d u po n t he s u p p l y c ha i n o f
a g r i - pr o d u c ts . I t s o ur c es f r e s h f r ui t a n d v e g e ta bl es f r o m f a r m er s
a n d s el l s to small local shops, modern retail outlets, and HORECA (hotels,
restaurants, and catering establishments). I t pr e do m i na nt l y o per a t es i n
T a m i l N a d u v i a a d i s tr i b ut i o n h u b i n Ch e n na i .

F OU N D E R S - Sanjay Dasari and Karthik Jayaraman.

E m er g e n ce – A f te r co m pl et i n g g r a d ua ti o n i n 20 15 f r o m U S ,
S a n j a y r e tu r n e d t o I n di a . H e w a s f a s c i na te d by f o o d i n du s tr y a nd
w a n te d t o o p e n a r es ta ur a n t. H e v i s i t e d a f r i e n d’s h o t el i n
C h e n na i , a n d s t i l l r e mi ni s ce s “ The aesthetics and food quality were next
level. I met the interior designer, chef, bartender, sources of raw material and
witnessed everything that goes behind the scenes to run the place, and even
made the whole business plan for me own venture”

He then reached out to a vegetable vendor for sourcing of vegetables and

fruits for his restaurant. He tells, “I was honestly shocked when I saw the
hygiene levels maintained, and disappointed by how it all seemed to be taken
for granted. In fact, inside the vendor’s office, there was a pile of cabbages on
the floor and a dog defecating just 5 ft away from it”. It was this incident that
made him nauseous, and he thought of a cleaner, fresher, and better products
and hygienic supply chain.

Thereafter foundation of Waycool was laid, using mobile trucks to sell hygienic
food. Sanjay’s father Vinod who was the Managing Director of Ashoka Leyland
made him met Karthik Jayaram an ex-McKinsey with a whopping 20 years of
work experience, and decided to build Waycool together.

Current position-

Way cool is serving 4000 clients and doing 2000 deliveries a day. 72 percent of
the products are sourced from marginal farmers.35000 farmers are under its
umbrella. It is operating in 13 cities with 850 employees, moving 150 tons of
products every day. Monthly turnover of 21 crores.
The gaps Waycool fills-

Farm to Fork model- Way cool is working on farm to fork model, reducing the
gap between farmers and consumers, providing the produce to consumers
directly, without involvement of middle man.

Paying high prices to farmers- the farmers linked to Waycool are getting 25%
higher amount than earlier. The margin that was earlier fetched by middle man
is now provided to farmers by paying higher prices.

Timely payment to farmers- a big problem in Indian agriculture is farmers are

not paid timely. Sugarcane growers are sometime paid, after years of selling
their produce. Waycool pay farmers in 2-3 days digitally.

Supplying hygienic food- Waycool maintains the hygiene standards and

provides clean and hygienic produce.

Capital:

Authorised capital: Rs 4330000

Paid up capital: Rs 4118200

Since its start waycool has participated in two rounds of funding. In first round of
funding in 2017 it received only $2.7 M and second round in 2019 it received $17
M, summing to $19.7M.