India-based dairy startup Sahayog Dairy has raised INR110m ($1.6m) in the first round of funding from social venture capital investment firm Acumen for expansion of its processing plant.
The dairy firm will use the money for expansion of its milk chilling and processing plant in the Devas area in the Madhya Pradesh state, reported VCCircle.
The firm was set up two years ago by Symbiosis Institute of Management alumnus Anand Patidar. Since then, its network has expanded to include 23, 000 farmers from more than 300 villages across five districts in Madhya Pradesh.
The dairy firm also operates 272 primary milk collection centres, where milk is collected, tested, analysed. Smallholder farmers receive instant feedback about the quality and quantity of the milk delivered. Supplementary services such as farmer training, para-veterinary services are also provided by the company.
The dairy segment has been highly fragmented which has attracted a lot of entrepreneurs in the last few years, reported VCCircle.
In India, the dairy space is dominated by large cooperatives such as Amul and Mother Dairy.
