D2C dairy startup Country Delight in talks to raise $100 million
:
Temasek-backed Country Delight is in early discussions to raise up to $100 million in a mix of primary and secondary transactions, three people familiar with the matter told
Mint
.
'The company has appointed Avendus to help with the process and the fundraiser will close in the next 3-6 months," one of the people cited above said.
'Some of the earlier investors are expected to sell in this round and the company is in talks with new investors to come on board," a second person said, adding that valuation details are not known yet.
To be sure, shareholders sell their stake to other existing or new investors and no new capital is injected into the company in a secondary transaction. Such transactions generally take place at a discount to the primary shares.
Country Delight and Avendus did not immediately respond to
Mint
's requests for a comment.
Last month, Country Delight secured about $25 million in an extended Series E round from Temasek at a valuation of $820 million, according to a report by Entrackr.
According to another Entrackr report, it also ventured into the quick commerce segment by launching a pilot for its 10–15-minute delivery service in Gurugram in December. The company is expected to expand to other cities in the coming months, Entrackr said, citing sources.
In October,
Country Delight raised $25 million from Alteria Capital
to fund its expansion, capacity building, and brand marketing efforts, marking the third infusion from the venture debt provider in 2024.
Back in October, co-founder Chakradhar Gade had said the company was gearing up for its initial public offering (IPO) journey.
'As we scale our operations and prepare for our IPO journey, it is important for us to use various capital sources to improve financial efficiency and also set us up for the next phase of growth," Gade had said.
Also read:
Data dive: Have startups really missed the innovation bus?
Its last sizeable round was in 2022 when it raised $108 million in Series D round at a valuation of $615 million led by investors including Venturi Partners and Singaporean private equity major Temasek, with participation from Asia-focused SWC Global and Trifecta Capital also bringing in fresh investment.
Over the years, the startup has raised about $200 million across 18 rounds and also counts Matrix Partners, IIFL Asset Management, Elevation Capital, and Orios Venture Partners among its investors, as per data from market intelligence provider Tracxn.
Also read:
White Revolution 2.0 must ensure no child is left behind
Founded in 2015 by Gade and Nitin Kaushal, Country Delight operates in the milk products and fresh produce category with its own branded offering. The startup currently serves nearly 1.5 million users across 15 cities in India. It operates under a daily subscription model serving its customers fresh cow & buffalo milk, curd, ghee, paneer, bread, and eggs among others.
In FY24, Country Delight posted a revenue of
₹
1380 crore, a 46% increase from a year earlier, according to a report by the ARC. The report added the growth was driven mainly by increase in subscribers and sales of non-dairy products such as fruits, vegetables, eggs, and pulses. It was also powered by high quality produce with ease of engagement and a robust distribution network for predictable home deliveries. It aims to further strengthen its supply chain capabilities and expand across different parts of India.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
India.com
3 hours ago
- India.com
BIG concern for India as Trump's 50 pc tariffs could lead to 6% GDP slowdown in…; Moody's issues big warning, says India's manufacturing sector could…
Representational Image Trump Tariffs: India's GDP growth will likely slow down to 6 percent in the current financial year if the 50 percent tariffs imposed by US President Donald Trump on Indian imports come into effect from August 27, while its budding manufacturing will also take a severe hit, Moody's Ratings said Friday. What did Moody's say? 'Should India continue to procure Russian oil at the expense of the headline 50 per cent tariff rate on goods it ships to the US, which is currently its largest export destination, we project that real GDP growth may slow by around 0.3 percentage points compared with our current forecast of 6.3 per cent growth for fiscal 2025-26 (ending March 2026),' Moody's said. The US-based ratings agency noted that the strain caused by Trump tariffs could be mitigated by India's strong services sector, and resilient domestic demand, however, India's response to high US tariffs will ultimately determine the effect on its growth, inflation and external position. Trump tariffs on India On August 6, Donald Trump signed an executive order imposing an additional 25 percent tariffs on Indian goods, raising the total levy to 50%. The US President called the additional tariffs on India as a 'punishment' for purchasing Russian oil and weapons, as he accused New Delhi of 'funding' Moscow's war on Ukraine. 'I find that the Government of India is currently directly or indirectly importing Russian Federation oil. Accordingly, and as consistent with applicable law, articles of India imported into the customs territory of the United States shall be subject to an additional ad valorem rate of duty of 25 percent,' the order read. The additional 25 percent tariffs will come into effect from August 27. Why Trump tariffs could dent India's manufacturing sector? Meanwhile, Moody's also warned that the high tariffs will also negatively impact India's growing manufacturing sector, including high-value products like electronics, because of lower tariffs on other Asia-Pacific countries. 'Beyond 2025, the much wider tariff gap compared with other Asia-Pacific countries would severely curtail India's ambitions to develop its manufacturing sector, particularly in higher value-added sectors, such as electronics, and may even reverse some of the gains made in recent years in attracting related investments,' it said. The US has imposed 15-20 percent import duty on other Asia-Pacific countries, while slapping with a 50 percent tariff rate. The ratings agency said Asia-Pacific countries are vying for a greater share of trade and investment flows amid a restructuring of supply chains triggered by US policy shifts. How India could absorb impact of tariffs? Moody's noted that India has managed to 'procure at least some of its purchases of Russian oil at below global prices, which has helped insulate India's inflation from the pass-through of global commodity price movements, while preempting pressures on its current account deficit.' Since 2022, India has increasingly ramped up its crude oil imports from Russia as demand from the latter's traditional offtakers dried up amid sanctions tied to its invasion of Ukraine. In 2024, India's imports of Russian crude rose to USD 56.8 billion from USD 2.8 billion in 2021. Moody's said India retains sufficient foreign-reserve currency buffers to weather external volatility. 'The magnitude of the drag on growth from tariff obstacles will influence the government's decision to pursue a fiscal policy response, although we anticipate the government will adhere to its focus on gradual fiscal and debt consolidation,' said the US-based rating agency. India-US trade deal Notably, India has been negotiating a bilateral trade agreement (BTA) with the United States since March. The two countries have held five rounds of talks, while a US teams is scheduled to visit India on August 25 for the sixth round. However, a trade deal seems unlikely as Donald Trump has categorically said that India-US trade talks will not resume until the dispute over tariffs is resolved. 'No, not until we get it resolved,' Trump told reporters in the Oval Office on Thursday when asked whether he expected the talks to resume. (With inputs from agencies)
Mint
7 hours ago
- Mint
Why poor nations got hit with higher tariffs than rich ones
President Trump's tariffs barrage has landed the heaviest blow on the very nations that global trade was supposed to help: poor countries. For decades, the U.S. and other rich countries have granted special trading privileges to many poor countries, cutting tariffs and boosting market access to lend emerging countries a helping hand. That hasn't been Trump's approach. While his administration placed tariffs of 10% to 15% on imports from many of the world's wealthiest countries, such as South Korea, Japan and European Union member states, it slapped goods from developing countries such as Vietnam, Bangladesh, South Africa and Iraq with duties of 20% or higher. Two of Asia's poorest countries, Myanmar and Laos, were hit with tariffs of 40%, a potential death knell for their U.S. exports, which include goods such as furniture and garments. On Wednesday, Trump said he would raise tariffs on India to 50%, as Washington and New Delhi scuffled over India's continued imports of Russian oil. In a new era of gloves-off trade negotiations, these poorer countries had the least leverage with a country the size of the U.S. Low wages have turned some of them, such as Bangladesh and Vietnam, into manufacturing powers, but their citizens can't afford expensive American products, meaning they often run the sort of large trade surpluses with the U.S. that have drawn Trump's ire. Moreover, the president has demanded that trading partners invest in the U.S., but few developing countries have the financial firepower to match the hundreds of billions of dollars that Japan, South Korea and the EU have pledged to sink into the American economy. Some countries that carry geopolitical or economic weight with the U.S. were spared the worst of the tariffs. The U.S. didn't levy tariffs higher than the baseline 10% on Saudi Arabia, Qatar or the United Arab Emirates—oil and gas producers whose leaders are close to Trump. 'It's left developing countries with very high tariffs," said Deborah Elms, head of trade policy at the Hinrich Foundation, an Asia-based think tank. 'It's a significant change especially for treatment of least developed countries." Until 2020, many poor countries, such as Cambodia and Bangladesh, benefited from a special arrangement known as the Generalized System of Preferences that eliminated trade duties on products from more than 100 of the world's poorest countries and territories. The arrangement hasn't been renewed. Now poor countries' access to the U.S. has diminished further. Take Cambodia. The small country, a large garment exporter to the U.S., was hit with 19% tariffs, causing widespread worry in the country's clothing industry. 'We are a poor country. Our purchasing power is not the same as a rich country," said Sun Chanthol, Cambodia's deputy prime minister who led the tariff talks with the U.S., in an interview. Cambodia has slashed its own tariffs on U.S. imports to zero. Its national airline has promised to buy 10 planes from Boeing, with an option to buy 10 more—a modest proposition compared with financial pledges of rich countries such as Japan, which agreed to buy 100 jets from the U.S. aerospace company. Although the 19% tariff Cambodia ended up with was slightly better than that of some other developing countries, the government had been pushing for a lower rate. 'I was hoping to at least get 15% like Korea or Japan," Sun Chanthol said. Now, companies are worried about the fallout of higher tariffs on their exports to a market as crucial as the U.S. Bernhard Wewengkang, an executive at PT Great Giant Pineapple, one of the world's largest canned pineapple exporters, based on the island of Sumatra in Indonesia, expects demand will soften in the U.S., the company's largest market, given the 19% tariff on Indonesian exports to the American market. He is hoping to offload more canned pineapple into other markets—but so is everybody else in the industry. Great Giant Pineapple's margins are too small to lower its prices, meaning U.S. importers will face higher costs that they may pass along by raising prices for shoppers. Wewengkang worries that will hit canned pineapple sales and hurt the company's revenue. 'It's a lot," he said of the tariffs. Economists and trade officials are often left scratching their heads about why certain countries have dodged the bullet while others get slammed. Algeria and Libya face tariffs of 30% on their exports to the U.S., while Iraq's goods will be charged a duty of 35%. Among the highest tariffs was the 41% levy placed on goods from Syria. Having lived under punishing sanctions for years, the country exports very little to the U.S. Its tariff rate is higher even than the 39% tariff on Switzerland, one of the rare rich countries to get hit hard. In some cases, such as with Vietnam, developing countries have come under scrutiny from the White House because of their close trade and diplomatic ties with China. Other times Trump has expressed anger about their domestic politics. Trump placed 50% tariffs on certain Brazilian products, such as coffee. In justifying the levies, he cited legal action against former right-wing President Jair Bolsonaro and against U.S. tech firms. Last week, the White House confirmed that South Africa would be hit with 30% tariffs, despite monthslong efforts by South African officials to reduce them. In May, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa met with Trump at the White House to try to salvage a deteriorating relationship with the U.S. over issues ranging from race relations to Israel and trade. But the Oval Office visit devolved into a tense exchange over perceived threats to white farmers in South Africa. South Africa's exports are mostly platinum and cars. But senior South African officials say many exports—particularly the country's citrus fruit—don't pose a threat to American producers because they are counterseasonal, meaning they fill gaps in the U.S. market rather than replacing domestic products. Hundreds of thousands of cartons of citrus have already been packed and are awaiting shipment to the U.S. in the coming weeks, the Citrus Growers' Association of Southern Africa said in a statement. 'The implementation of a 30% tariff…will mean most of this fruit will be left unsold," it said. Write to Jon Emont at and Alexandra Wexler at
Time of India
8 hours ago
- Time of India
Bain Capital-backed Heartflow valued at $2.27 billion in solid Nasdaq debut
Academy Empower your mind, elevate your skills Medtech firm Heartflow was valued at $2.27 billion on Friday, with its shares surging 47.4% in the Nasdaq debut , as the IPO market gathers momentum and outrides tariff shares opened at $28 and went as high as $31.5, signaling robust investor appetite for companies leveraging artificial intelligence for sold about 16.67 million shares at $19 each in its IPO on Thursday, raising $316.7 Bain Capital-backed company's debut comes as expectations of a softer trade policy and lower interest rates boost investor sentiment , which had nosedived after U.S. tariffs in April stoked recession market sentiment reflects "nervous excitement", said Matt Kennedy, senior strategist at IPO-focused research and ETFs provider Renaissance Capital."We saw a spike in volatility last week, but at the same time stocks (are) flying up on AI-driven earnings blowouts."Space tech startup Firefly Aerospace and design software firm Figma saw stellar first-day reactions in recent days, strengthening prospects for tech-focused companies to go first-day pop could help boost market perception for other medtechs, which often rely on vast research and development expenditure, with clinical testing further pressuring the bottom Bionics and Kestra Medical had solid debuts earlier this year, but are now trading below their IPO price, like most medtech IPOs of the past year."If investors keep losing, they just won't show up and companies will struggle to raise IPO funding," Kennedy added, referring to underwhelming post-listing performance from several medtech IPOs in the past in 2007, Heartflow helps physicians diagnose and treat heart AI-enabled products can create a personalized 3D model of a patient's heart via a single specialized company's revenue rose 39% in the quarter ended March 31 from a year ago. Its losses, however, widened 55% to $32.35 million during the same period.
