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In addition to Accel Partners and Qualcomm Ventures, Singapore-based M&S Partners and Zop Smart also invested in the B2B marketplace

The Ninjacart founding team

Ninjacart, an online B2B marketplace that connects farmers and brands to retailers in India, has raised around INR 20 crore (US$3 million) in its Series A round of funding led by Accel Partners. Qualcomm Ventures, Singapore-based M&S Partners, and Zop Smart also co-invested.

Ninjacart will primarily use the fund to expand the team, and invest in supply chain infrastructure and technology.

The startup was founded in May 2015 by Thirukumaran Nagarajan, Kartheeswaran KK, Sharath Loganathan, Ashutosh Vikram, Sachin P Jose, Vasudevan Chinnathambi. They worked in different capacities at companies such as Taxiforsure, Ola and Commonfloor.

Ninjacart started as a hyperlocal grocery delivery company. After six months of operation, it felt that the backend supply chain of fruits and vegetables is broken and inefficient, and by December 2015, it pivoted to become a full-fledged B2B marketplace.

With the current model, Ninjacart helps supermarkets, kirana stores (local retailers) and stand-alone shops to source fresh fruits and vegetables, staples and FMCG goods at competitive prices directly from farmers and brands. It claims to be supplying more than 15 tons of vegetables and fruits daily to over 120 retailers, of which 98 per cent order every day.

“Due to marginal farming, poor logistics and zero market information there are numerous middlemen involved in getting the produce from farmers to markets. The farmer gets only one fourth of what the consumer pays. We try to solve these problems by bridging the gaps so that the farmer gets a good value for his produce and the stores get quality goods at competitive price,” said Nagarajan, Co-founder and CEO of Ninjacart.

Ninjacart currently employs over 60 people.

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