FreshWorld acquihires Royale Fresh to enter meat delivery market

Fruits and vegetable retailer owned by Bengaluru-based Retailworx, which operates FreshWorld, has acquihired meat delivery startup Royale Fresh in an all-equity deal, a top company official told TechCircle.

As part of the deal, Bengaluru-based Royale Fresh will continue to operate as a separate entity, Rajiv Rao, founder of FreshWorld said. 

FreshWorld has acquired the digital capability of Royale Fresh, Rao added. The company hasn’t revealed financial details of the deal. 

“FreshWorld will add extensive retail muscle to our operations with the FreshWorld carts and FreshWorld vans now augmenting our reach and capillarity,” Jayson Pereira, head of operations, Royale Fresh said in a statement.

Currently, Royale Fresh is listed on hyperlocal platforms (HLP) like Dunzo and Swiggy. The company has made around 10,000 deliveries in three months of its operations. It currently delivers in three hubs and aims to expand to six by July end. The company retails in chicken and meat products and is planning to foray into fish category by mid-May along with cold cuts and marinades.

In the wake of Covid-19, FreshWorld claims that its model of a cart with fruits and vegetables at doorstep will be beneficial as customers can pick their products in a safe and comfortable environment.

“With this acquisition and its operations scaling with the introduction of the lithium ion battery stack FreshWorld  is gearing up for an expansion in the latter part of the year and is looking to scale across Bengaluru and into newer cities,” Rao added.

In February, FreshWorld raised an undisclosed amount of bridge funding from Indian Angel Network (IAN) Fund and Venture Farmer, a Bengaluru-based family office. 

Founded in 2012 by Rao, FreshWorld operates on a farm-to-fork model by procuring fruits and vegetables directly from farmers and retailing them through street vendors using battery-operated carts. Each cart uses communication technologies besides a tablet and a printer to provide receipts, track inventory and analyse data. Users can locate the nearest cart in their locality just like an Ola or Uber from the company’s app.

"Every crisis is an opportunity, with strong supply chain connect FreshWorld was able to manage the crisis well doing on demand. With this acquisition the online capabilty is strengthened further to meet the increasing demand,” Nagaraja Prakasam lead investor, IAN, said in a statement. 

This transaction was advised by CreedCap a boutique investment banking firm specializing in Capital Syndication, Mergers and Acquisitions and Strategic Advisory.