B2B Startup Suite42 Secures Funding To Solve Food Processing Ecosystem Challenges

B2B food processing startup Suite42 has raised $4.3 Mn in a seed funding round co-led by Omnivore and Orios Venture Partners. The round also saw participation from Titan Capital, All In Capital, Pointone Capital, as well as angel investors including Sujeet Kumar, cofounder of Udaan.

With the fresh capital, the startup plans to focus more on talent acquisition, develop the ‘Suite42 Standard’ in the food processing ecosystem. Moreover, it wants to use funds for piloting cross border trade.

Over the next 18 months, it also plans to work with B2B clients across segments such as ecommerce, D2C and FMCG brands, along with 2000 modern trade outlets across multiple cities.

The Bengaluru-based startup was founded in 2022 by Rahul Ratan, Ramakrishna Cheruku, Chethan S, and Shriram S. Rahul and Ramakrishna.

Suite42 offers contract manufacturing solutions for food processing to serve B2B clients across the FMCG, agribusiness, and grocery industries. As stated by the startup in an official statement, most food brands in India struggle with reliable manufacturing.

According to the startup, while the country has more than 40,000 food processing units, such units face many challenges including low capacity utilisation, lack of quality standardisation, high wastage, and limited access to working capital financing.

Hence, Suite42’s B2B food processing platform is working to solve these issues. It aims to provide complete contract manufacturing solutions – identifying trusted manufacturing partners, enabling fair price discovery, reducing the cost of food processing, product development, ensuring quality standardisation, lower minimum order sizes and optimising logistics.

“We are excited to start our journey of potentially redefining the food processing industry in India. Our mission is to empower food manufacturers in India by leveraging technology and building efficient and standardized processes. Consequently, brands and consumers will have access to premium products and ingredients at affordable prices,” Rahul Ratan, cofounder and CEO of Suite42 said.

The Indian food processing market size reached INR 22,830 Bn in 2021, is projected to touch INR 41,835.8 Bn by 2027 at a compound annual growth rate of 10% during 2022-2027, according to an IMARC report.