Fresh From Farm, Culture Circle, and Select Brands Raise Early-Stage Funding Here are the startups that announced early-stage funding rounds.

Fresh From Farm Raises USD 2 Mn in Pre-Series A

Fresh From Farm, a B2B2C platform for fresh fruit demand, announced the raising of USD 2 million in pre-Series A, led by Ashish Kacholia, founder of Lucky Investments. Inflection Point Ventures also participated in the round.

In November 2022, the company's seed round of INR 3 crore was led by its initial investor, IPV.

The proceeds will be used for team expansion, tech enhancement, and to introduce new product lines.

Rohit Nagdewani, Founder, Fresh From Farm, said, "Our vision of becoming India's largest fresh fruit company aligns with our efforts to expand aggressively in New Delhi/NCR. While we are currently delivering to over 300 locations every day, our key focus on waste reduction and efficient demand consolidation has allowed our retailer partners to earn an average of 29% more than working through traditional channels. On the growth front, we are aiming to touch INR 100 crore ARR by the end of this calendar year."

Founded by Rohit Nagdewani, Fresh From Farm is a B2B2C fresh fruit demand consolidation platform that allows for fresh fruit waste reduction at the retailer level. Its flagship product, F3, takes over the entire operation set for retailers, including procurement, handling, sorting, and distribution, while enabling them to focus on sales.

Culture Circle Secures Pre-Seed Funding

Culture Circle, a comprehensive luxury and hype platform, has secured an undisclosed amount in pre-seed funding from IIMA Ventures (formerly IIMA-CIIE).

The fresh capital will be used to expand into more categories, such as luxury fashion, watches, designer handbags, and collectibles. It is also planning to expand its offline presence with experience centres in Delhi, Hyderabad, and Mumbai, as well as launch its platform in key international markets like the UAE, Singapore, and Thailand.

Devansh and Ackshay, Co-Founders of Culture Circle, said, "Culture Circle is not just another online sneaker and streetwear store. We're creating a community where individuals passionate about premium brands can connect, discover, and buy exclusive pieces seamlessly at the guaranteed best prices in India without worrying about authenticity."

Launched in 2023 by Devansh Jain Nawal (ex-Goldman Sachs, co-founded The Healthy Company) and Ackshay Jain (ex-Google, co-founded The Healthy Company), Culture Circle is a hype and luxury app offering a collection of sneakers, streetwear, and luxury fashion from brands like Nike Air Jordans, Yeezys, Essentials, Drew House, Supreme, etc.

The platform aims to achieve annualised sales of USD 25 million (INR 200 crore) within the next 12 months. The brand claims that it currently has more than 1900 verified sellers on its platform, offering a wide selection of streetwear at competitive prices to its 300,000+ monthly users.

Select Brands Raises INR 6.5 Cr Funding in Pre-Series A

The Indore-Based Startup Select Brands announced that it has successfully raised INR 6.5 crore in Pre-Series A led by Agra Gwalior Pathways and Airen Holdings, with participation from Amit Kumat from Prataap Snacks, Rajesh Patel from Apricot Foods, Sawan Laddha from Workie, We Founder Circle (WFC), IVY League Ventures, and JITO, with financial assistance facilitated by Colonel Consultancy.

The D2C startup founded by brothers Agam Choudhary and Saksham Jain plans to use the funding to drive brand growth and expand into new categories.

Agam Choudhary, Co-founder of Select Brands, said, "Basically, we are entering multiple categories by launching new brands and focusing on the growth of existing ones. Approximately 70% of the capital will be invested in existing sub-brand growth, which is Kyari, while around 30% will be allocated to new sub-brands."

Select Brands' journey began with the launch of Kyari in April 2022, a D2C brand offering home-grown plants.

"Our goal is to achieve 50 crores in sales in the next fiscal year (FY-24-25) by focusing on expanding our product portfolio and introducing two new brands under the Select Brands umbrella," added Choudhary.