Established in June 2020, Otipy is a business-to-business-to-consumer (B2B2C) agritech startup, operated by? Crofarm India. It connects farmers to end consumers through a community of resellers who handle last-mile deliveries of fruits and vegetables. With the help of AI-based demand prediction, it leverages historical data to procure agricultural produce.
The company recently raised $10.2 million in a Series A funding round led by SIG, Omidyar Network India, with participation from existing investors Inflection Point Ventures.
In an email interview, Otippy CEO Varun Khurana On-demand harvesting and the benefits of using artificial intelligence in agriculture were discussed. Edited part.
How is the OTP model different from Crofarm India? Or is it a rebranding?
The original model of Crofarm India was B2B while Otipy is B2B2C. OTP works on the resellers model, where our associates/resellers deliver to the consumers early in the morning at home. Currently OTP has 20,000+ partners.
Does Otipy offer farm-to-fork delivery? How does this work?
Otipy is a B2B2C community buying platform for fresh produce (fruits and vegetables) in India and works closely with reseller partners, primarily women and neighborhood stores. OTP focuses on on-demand harvesting as per the projected demand to keep the wastage to minimum through the technology used for procurement, distribution and distribution.
Agriculture in India is procured through mandis and in very traditional ways. How is OTP doing it directly with the farmers?
OTP has several farmer connections including FPOs (Farmer Producer Organization) which it has built over the last five years. OTP is procured from farmers of Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Himachal Pradesh and other states.
Who are all the investors in OTP? Are you profitable?
OTP’s investors include SIG, Omidyar, Inflection Point Ventures, Factorai Ventures and Pravega Ventures. OTP is not profitable yet but is operating on a gross margin of around 32%.
How do farmers benefit from OTP? what are your plans?
Otipi guides the farmers about what crop to harvest in which season, what kind of seed and soil they should use, making them aware about the hybrid variety. We guide farmers that there are NGOs, Bank Schemes and KPOs from where they can get financial assistance. We work with the motto of helping farmers deliver freshness from their farm to the doorstep of the consumers.
How is it AI-based? What are the data inputs and techniques you use?
OTP technology has come up with predictive algorithms to reduce wastage in the supply chain. This method helps us to reduce wastage, among other benefits.