MUMBAI, 24 August 2022: Farmley, a full-stack nuts & dry fruits brand, has raised $6 million in Series A funding. The round was led by DSG Consumer Partners and Alkemi Growth Capital alongside existing investors Omnivore, Insitor Partners, and other angel investors.
The startup was founded in 2017 by IIT graduates Akash Sharma and Abhishek Agarwal. Farmley has built deep backend linkages over the years with domestic as well as international farming communities to source the highest quality of nuts and dry fruits.
With deep customer insights and years of R&D, it has also developed 5 unique processing units in India. This has enabled Farmley to produce premium quality nuts and dry fruits, and to provide them at accessible price points to its consumers. The company has raised a prior seed round of $2 million in 2020 from Omnivore and Insitor.
Staying true to its full-stack core, Farmley has an assortment of over 100 products derived from nuts and dry fruits. From trail mixes to 100 percent maida-free pasta made from makhana to roasted munchies made from nuts, their product assortment is unique, delicious, and nutrition-packed.
In the last 18 months, Farmley has scaled its revenues by 10x to become one of the leading players in this category. They have omnichannel distribution, and their products are available on all leading e-commerce and quick commerce platforms alongside retail stores across the top 20 Indian cities. They are also available in select international markets including the US, Middle East, and Australia. Farmley plans to utilize the funds for channel expansion, brand building, and team building.
Akash Sharma & Abhishek Agarwal, Co-founders of Farmley said, "Farmley is a consumer-centric brand at heart. We are here to become a globally loved brand, born in India and being consumer-first in our approach is the only way to achieve it. Nuts & dry fruits have become synonymous with festivities, good health, and great taste. We aim to blend them into the various eating occasions throughout the day and make each moment special and memorable."
Hariharan Premkumar, Head of India at DSG Consumer Partners commented, "We are excited to partner with Akash and Abhishek on their mission to build India's most loved dry fruits and nuts brand with the best quality products. This segment is large and the unorganized market makes up 95% of the market. The products from the unorganized market suffer from quality, hygiene, and adulteration issues. The full backward integration at Farmley ensures premium quality produce and innovative product launches such as India's first makhana pasta. The company is on a strong growth trajectory and the founders have built a stellar team with laser-focus on customer pain points."
Dr Mansi Aggarwal, Partner at Alkemi Growth Capital, observed, "Consumers want quality products that are healthy, tasty and nutritious. The category is large with significant opportunities for more organized brands. Farmley is one of the fastest-growing brands in this segment and the team at the helm has grown the company to an impressive scale while building a sustainable supply chain''
