WAYCOOL FOODS AND PRODUCTS PRIVATE LIMITED

Business Overview

WayCool Foods and Products Pvt Ltd is India's largest agri-food-tech / agri-commerce company (per its own marketing and multiple press sources), founded 2015 in Chennai. It runs a full-stack farm-to-retail food supply chain: sourcing fresh fruits, vegetables, staples (rice, pulses, spices, dry fruits, wheat flour), dairy and value-added foods from a network of 85,000+ farmers across 50+ regions in India, and distributing to 25,000+ retail/enterprise clients, moving 650+ tonnes of product/day. It also owns consumer food brands including Madhuram, KitchenJi, L'exotique, and Freshey's (via subsidiary Benani Foods). Recognised as a DPIIT startup. (Sources: company website copy as reflected on TheCompanyCheck, YourStory, nuffoodsspectrum, Business Standard.)

Sector & Classification

NIC: "Other retail sale in specialized stores" (Tofler, Falconebiz). Industry classification per TheCompanyCheck: Food & Beverage Retail & Distribution / Trade sector. Business model is agri-commerce (farm-to-retail food supply chain), not pure retail — NIC code appears to be a filing-classification artifact rather than a precise business descriptor.

Directors & Key Management

GST Registrations

Primary/PAN-linked GSTIN 33AABCW6671K1Z0 (Tamil Nadu, Regular, Active) — confirmed via KnowYourGST, Masters India, Piceapp (2+ sources agree). PAN embedded AABCW6671K matches company PAN. Company holds multi-state GST registrations — sources vary between "8 registrations" (KnowYourGST: TN, AP, Telangana, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Puducherry, MP, Kerala) and at least a separate Puducherry GSTIN 34AABCW6671K1ZY was also surfaced independently — consistent with a pan-India distribution operation. Exact current total registration count not independently reconciled beyond "8," partial confidence on the precise count.

Financials

FY2023 (year ended 31-Mar-2023), standalone, per TheCompanyCheck: Operating revenue ₹1,261.82 Cr (+62% YoY). Per Tofler (same FY): Total assets ₹714.3 Cr, equity capital ₹0.3 Cr, reserves reported as ₹-4,387.3 Cr (negative — this figure looks anomalous/out-of-scale relative to revenue and may reflect a Tofler data/units artifact; flagged, not fully trusted), short-term borrowings ₹4,643.2 Cr, long-term borrowings ₹64.4 Cr, debt-to-equity 0.21, operating margin -79.33%, net profit margin -76.13% (i.e., large reported net loss for the year). EBITDA and exact PAT figures were paywalled ("GET PRO") on Tofler and not obtained from other free sources. Overall: revenue growing fast but company was loss-making as of FY23 per available data — treat exact loss quantum as unconfirmed/partial.

Funding History

WayCool has raised substantial VC funding across many rounds. Series D: $117M raised (reported Jan 2022) from Lightrock, LightBox, FMO, Lightsmith, IFC (World Bank Group), Redwood Equity Partners, Gawa Capital (Business Standard, AgFunderNews — 2 sources agree). Nov 2023: WayCool reported in talks for a ~$40M rights issue with Lightrock, aiming to break even by Q4 FY24 (YourStory headline/snippet only — page could not be fully fetched, single-source, partial confidence). Aggregator sources (Tracxn-derived search synthesis, not independently verified) suggest cumulative funding around $388M across ~29 rounds, with investors also including Grand Anicut, Trifecta Capital, Alteria Capital, Stride Ventures, and a reported Series E of $22.7M around Mar 2026 — this last figure is single-source (Tracxn aggregator) and NOT independently confirmed; treat as unconfirmed/partial.

Shareholding

Not obtained — no public cap table / shareholding-pattern data found in accessible free sources (detailed shareholder register was paywalled on Tofler/TheCompanyCheck).

Loans & Charges

Per TheCompanyCheck (single source, not cross-verified against MCA per source restrictions): Open charges ₹565.5 Cr; satisfied/settled charges ₹125.15 Cr. Lender-level breakdown not obtained.

Related Parties

Subsidiary: Benani Foods Private Limited — WayCool acquired an equity stake in Benani Foods (maker of "Freshey's" branded ready-to-cook products) around March 2019, per contemporaneous press (nuffoodsspectrum, Restaurant India, Business Standard) — confirmed via 2+ sources. TheCompanyCheck additionally lists CFB Retail Private Limited as a subsidiary — single-source, not independently corroborated, partial confidence. Note: "Waycool Brandsnext Private Limited" (CIN U15490TN2013PTC093940) is a DIFFERENT, separately registered group entity — do not conflate its financials/ratings/GSTIN with the target entity (entity-confusion trap flagged and avoided).

Credit Ratings

Not obtained — no CRISIL/ICRA/CARE rating found in accessible sources for this entity.

Legal & Compliance

None found — no indexed Indian Kanoon judgments/orders located for this company under available search access.

Competitive Landscape

Ninjacart (fresh-produce B2B supply chain, ~₹2,002 Cr FY24 revenue, ~$815M valuation — largest direct peer), DeHaat (full-stack agri-tech marketplace, reportedly profitable), Crofarm (fruit/veg supply chain to retail), Jumbotail (B2B grocery/kirana marketplace), Bijak (agri-commodity trading platform), Udaan (broader B2B marketplace, adjacent competitor). Scale tag: WayCool and Ninjacart are the two largest, revenue-scale (₹1,000+ Cr range) players in Indian farm-to-retail fresh produce logistics; DeHaat/Crofarm/Jumbotail are mid-scale; Udaan/Bijak are adjacent/broader-scope platforms.

Frequently Asked Questions