Fruits & vegetable retail co Freshworld raises funding from IAN, Kris Gopalakrishnan

Retailworx Pvt Ltd, which owns and operates food and vegetable retailing startup Freshworld, has raised an undisclosed amount from IAN and Kris Gopalakrishnan, co-founder of IT giant Infosys, the company said in a release.

The investment was led by IAN investor Nagaraja Prakasam who co-invested with Gopalakrishnan. As a part of the agreement, Prakasam joined the board of Freshworld.

Prakasam has over couple of decades experience and as an angel investor in agriculture space, he has invested in 10 startups and made three exits.

Freshworld was founded by Rajiv Rao who has over two decades of experience in the telecom industry.

"This investment will enable us in expanding the business and increasing the reach & scale of Freshworld's retail network. We are looking to upgrade the current model of our carts, strengthen our technology piece and also plan to foray into an organised retail store format for the fresh category only. This would be based on the popular friendly neighborhood retailer concept or what is known as a convenience store, closer to our consumer," commented Rao.

Bangalore-based Freshworld ventured into a 'farm-to-home' concept by organising fruits and vegetables (F&V) retailing through a street vendor using battery-operated carts. Each cart uses a tablet, printer and communication technologies to provide receipt, track inventory and analyse data.

"Freshworld is in line with my vision of supporting sustainable technologies in solving problems. I feel this is the next-level disruption in the F&V industry and we expect to see a lot of growth in coming years. I hope to see more 'green carts' dotting Bangalore and many more cities soon," said Gopalakrishnan.

In July 2013, Freshworld received an undisclosed amount in its first round of angel funding from family and friends.