A D2C food necessities business, Country Delight has secured $108 million in a Series D round, valuing the company at $615 million. New investors lead the round, including Nicholas Cator’s Venturi Partners and Temasek, a Singaporean private equity company, with participation from Asia-focused SWC Global and domestic PE firm Trifecta Capital.
IIFL Asset Management, Elevation Capital, Orios Venture Partners, and Matrix Partners were among the existing investors who contributed 30% of the entire investment.
Avendus Capital served as Country Delight’s only financial advisor on this transaction.
“Country Delight is now looking at becoming a leading natural food essentials business where we are looking to widen our product portfolio to cover all the food essentials kitchen needs on a daily basis,” Chakradhar Gade, co-founder, Country Delight, shared in an interaction.
“Some of the new categories that we are looking to enter are pulses, grains, spices, oils, pickles and basic snacking items, he continued. The latest round of fundraising comes in addition to the $65 million secured in March, bringing the company’s total funding to $147 million.
In November 2020, the Gurugram-based startup raised $25 million (Rs 185 crore) in a Series C round of investment led by Elevation Capital (formerly SAIF Partners). IIFL AMC was also a new investor in the round. Some of its major backers are Matrix Partners India and Orios Venture Partners.
Gade and Nitin Kaushal, IIM Indore classmates, created Country Delight in 2013 to supply fresh food staples such as milk and dairy goods to clients’ doorsteps. It solves supply chain and distribution issues by putting technology first.
It has been expanded to include fruits and vegetables. Thanks to a fully integrated just-in-time supply chain strategy, fresh farm-to-home deliveries are guaranteed within 24-36 hours of sourcing. With the latest round of funding, the company plans to expand its existing product line.
The company is also launching a small-portion fruit yoghurt line, with a philosophy centred on modest-ticket items, tiny servings, and a focus on ordering fresh, consume fresh concept for customers.
Country Delight claims to have expanded 10 times in size in the last three years, including the pandemic period, and to have served over 1.5 million clients in 15 cities throughout 11 Indian states.
“Country Delight is solving a very real problem at scale. Quality consciousness in India is on the rise. The brand’s focus on offering farm-to-doorstep daily pantry essentials that are fresh and of the highest quality has resulted in immensely positive customer feedback and strong loyalty,” said Rishika Chandan, executive managing director, Venturi Partners.
“We have been very impressed by their product-first approach, vertically integrated business model and ability to expand across categories,” Chandan added.
According to Chandan, India’s top 50 cities have around 20 million affluent households that may profit from Country Delight’s products, making this a tremendous market that has mostly stayed commoditized thus far.
“Currently, we are clocking a revenue of almost $120 million. We are doing about 8 million deliveries a month to 300 subscribers. We have been growing to two and a half times year-on-year. Over the last six months we’ve grown 50% in revenue,” Gade explained.
Over the following year, the company hopes to increase its subscriber base. “Our intent is to go deeper within existing and nearby geographies,” Gade further said.
