B2B platform Suite42 raises Rs 34 crore in seed funding from Omnivore, Orios

Business-to-business (B2B) food processing platform Suite42 on September 6 raised $4.3 million (Rs 34.3 crore) in a seed funding round co-led by Omnivore and Orios Venture Partners.

The round also witnessed participation from Titan Capital, All In Capital, Pointone Capital, and angel investors including Sujeet Kumar, co-founder of B2B e-commerce startup Udaan.

In a statement, Suite42 said it plans to use the funding for talent acquisition, launching raw material financing, and piloting exports.

In the next 18 months, the startup said it plans to work with various B2B clients including e-commerce, direct-to-consumer (D2C), and fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) brands, as well as 2,000 modern trade outlets across multiple cities.

Founded in 2022 by Rahul Ratan, Ramakrishna Cheruku, Chethan S, and Shriram S, Bengaluru-based Suite42 provides contract manufacturing solutions for food processing, serving diverse B2B clients across FMCG, agribusiness, and grocery industries.

While three of the four co-founders - Ratan, Shriram S, and Chethan S - have worked at Udaan, the fourth co-founder Cheruku has worked with multinational tech giant Microsoft.

"Our mission is to empower food manufacturers in India by leveraging technology and building efficient and standardised processes. Consequently, brands and consumers will have access to premium products and ingredients at affordable prices," said Ratan, who is also chief executive officer of Suite42.

The startup said its B2B food processing platform is working to solve inefficiencies in Indian food processing units such as low capacity utilisation, lack of quality standardisation, high wastage, and limited access to working capital financing.

"The sector is highly unorganised with deep inefficiencies. Less than five percent of India's agricultural output is processed, preventing realisation of profits across value chains. We are excited to see Suite42 revitalise the food processing space in India," said Jinesh Shah, managing partner of Omnivore.

Recently on August 24, Omnivore co-led another seed funding round in insect biotech startup Loopworm of $3.4 million, with WaterBridge Ventures.

Notably, venture capital firm Omnivore in April also launched its third fund with a target corpus of $130 million to invest in early-stage startups developing technologies for agriculture, food, and the rural economy.

Suite42 said it offers solutions like identifying trusted manufacturing partners, enabling fair price discovery, and reducing cost of food processing, among others.

For food processors, Suite42 said it is also aggregating demand, driving better capacity utilisation, and facilitating low-cost access to working capital.

Vinit Bhansali, senior vice president at Orios Venture Partners, said: "Suite42 is building a platform to digitise the back-end of a food brand from procurement to packaging. The team is targeting a massive TAM and manages the entire supply chain for the brand."