Farmers Fresh Zone Acquires Milk Chain Platform AM Needs

KOCHI:
Farm produce online retailer Farmers Fresh Zone (FFZ), incubated in Kerala Startup Mission (KSUM), has acquired milk delivery platform AM Needs for $2 million (Rs 15.95 crore) in cash and stock deal.

With this acquisition, FFZ adds country-milk and value-added products to its product category and it can provide unadulterated country milk to its consumers. Last September, FFZ got Rs 6 crore Pre-Series A funding led by Indian Angel Network (IAN). The online company targets Rs 1,000 crore revenue in the next five years.

FFZ, which operates in Kochi, Thiruvananthapuram, Thrissur, Kottayam, and Coimbatore, directly procures products from local farmers within 16 hours of harvest by giving them remunerative prices and take them to consumers.

Founded in 2019 by Sujith Sudhakaran and Ranjith Balan, AM Needs has built a technology stack and platform to ensure delivery of fresh items to customers before 7 am every day. The delivery platform, which is present in four cities in Kerala, offers products like milk, vegetables, and breakfast essentials.

Currently, AM Needs collaborates with Milma to sell milk and dairy products. It delivered more than 1.2 million orders last year.

Commenting on the takeover, Pradeep PS, Founder and CEO, Farmers Fresh Zone, said the acquisition adds locally sourced pure country-milk to their portfolio.

“Using the AI-based app, ‘Captain Farm’, we can ensure food safety and traceability for fresh products. We will also be expanding to more cities,” he noted.

According to Sujith Sudhakaran and Ranjith Balan, Co-founders of AM Needs, the collaboration brings in tremendous scope for the company, besides ensuring more effective service to their customers.

Nagaraja Prakasam, Lead Angel investor and Board Member, FFZ, said FFZ pioneered ‘Know your farmer’ and now customers can ‘know their milk’ as well. Padmaja Ruparel, Co-founder, IAN and Founding Partner, IAN Fund, said consumers are aware of the quality of food and its impact on health. FFZ has created the farm-to-fork supply chain to ensure food safety and such a benchmark in quality will also be applied to the sale of milk.

KSUM is the nodal agency of the Kerala Government for entrepreneurship development and incubation activities in the state.