WOTU (We Organise the Unorganised) India’s first business-to-business e-commerce marketplace for trading commodities in the Food & Beverage industry. A Bangalore-based B2B e-commerce startup founded in 2015 by Dhruv Sawhney and Mihir Mehta, former PayPal employees. India’s first marketplace dealing with food and beverage outlets starting from standalone restaurants, pubs to large-scale hotels and food chains by eliminating all the mediators and directly connecting them to the farmers, processors and manufacturers.
WOTU caters the wide range of e-mandi products such as fruits, vegetables, pulses, grains, meat & poultry, etc. The platform provides deep supply chain integration among farmers, processors and manufacturers. The startup enables a strong technology platform with an extensive product range and also providing warehousing facility with platform-integrated logistic capabilities.
WOTU’s Commencement Journey:
The idea behind WOTU is to provide a complete one-stop solution for the basic commodity needed from the trusted suppliers. The portal covers all the multiple touch points and keeping all the information in a well-structured way for comparison, eliminating all the complex measures so that customers easily decide in a few easy clicks. They sourced products directly from large-scale whole-sellers and specific retailers and delivered it via their reliable logistics partner to their end customers. In this process, WOTU satisfies both the suppliers and buyers by cutting down various intermediaries charges and can contact directly through the portal.
“We involve ourselves in the last mile delivery and fulfilment to the end customers as well through our logistics partners,” Dhruv Sawhney said.
WOTU’s Funding and Investment:
In 2016, WOTU raised an undisclosed amount of funding from Kae Capital as its seed funding. Recently, the startup has also raised an undisclosed amount of funding from Mumbai-based venture capital firm Kae Capital. The deal size is assumed to be in between $0.5 million to $1 million, as per market sources. The startups eliminate the intermediaries and bridge the gap between their B2B customers and the source. The investors were as follows:
- Claris Capital Limited
- Mumbai Angels
- Kae Capitals
“In terms of deal size, at this stage, the company is adequately capitalised for its next phase of growth,” said Vidushi Kamani, Venture Partner, Kae Capital.
Customers of WOTU:
Since 2015, the startup is dealing with the major market players of the food and beverage industry, such as, Soda Bottle Opener Wala, Lemon Tree Hotels, Watsons, Punjab Grill, The French Loaf, Swiggy, Davanam Sarovar Portico Suites, Shangri-La Hotel, Punjabi by Nature, Once Upon A Flame, InnerChef, etc., and many more.
“Currently, we are operational in Bangalore. Our next port of call would potentially be either Delhi, Mumbai or Hyderabad. We are still undecided on that,” Sawhney added.
Where’s the WOTU’s Glory:
The team of WOTU is working on technology platforms to enabling the reach of the buyers beyond geography, so the customers can place orders from across all over the country. The startup is providing an opportunity to the local business to grow nationally and internationally. They also provide improved analytics so that the supplier and buyer easily grow their business on the basis of their parameters of quality and cost.
Primarily, the startup is a complete solution for the supplier and buyer in many ways to grow and easily access the business according to the parameters of quality and cost. Also, they were supporting them in several forms like branding and marketing support, in improving analytics, giving a platform to deal with the nation-wide area, direct selling opportunity, trusted buyers and providing higher profit portal for all.
The concept of the WOTU is simple and an open platform to deal directly without any intermediaries in between the buyers and sellers. The platform is bridging the gap in between both direct buyers and sellers. In the coming years, the concept will be the saviour of the major market players helping in their food and beverage outlets.
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Tags: Claris Capital Limited, Craft Driven, Craft Driven Market Research, Dhruv Sawhney, e-commerce, F&B, Food & Beverage Industry, Kae Capital, market research, Mumbai Angels, PayPal, WOTU
