WayCool: Reimagining the Food Supply Chain

Founded in 2015, WayCool, is an Indian agri-tech start-up that built a B2B operation acquiring fruits and vegetables from product-specific agriculture companies and small-holding farmers. It sold them to business customers, such as local retail stores, restaurants, and hotels. The B2B strategy leveraged transparency, hygienic practices, and faster material and information flow to increase farmer incomes and reduce food wastage. Next, to enhance its ‘inch-wide, mile-deep’ approach using technology, WayCool scaled its supply chain using six software solutions: farmer support, procurement, warehousing, distribution to B2B customers, and two retailer solutions. In 2022, it spun off its software applications as a wholly owned tech arm, Censa. WayCool evolved its mission to ‘supporting 1% of the global food supply chain.’ This growth was supported by funds of $161 million raised over five investment rounds. WayCool’s strategy was operating multiple businesses, tackling all aspects of the supply chain, in a historically informal sector in an emerging market. But the founders had to consider the risks. Multiple business streams increased complexity, and the founders were often asked, was WayCool spreading itself too thin? To ensure sustained performance over the long term, should WayCool focus on building all its businesses or narrow its focus?