Originally reported and written in February 2023, this story has been republished as part of our archival content.

Varun Khurana, a computer science graduate from IIT-Delhi, is a serial entrepreneur with extensive experience in the grocery delivery business.

From serving as chief technology officer at Grofers (now Blinkit) to co-founding MyGreenBox, an online grocery delivery service, he transitioned to founding Otipy, a community group-buying agritech startup looking to improve the supply chain for fresh produce, in May 2020.

Based out of Delhi-NCR, he founded the startup backed by the idea of helping small farmers who do not have large landholdings and enough resources to sell their produce in the mandis. Nearly three years after establishing Otipy, the platform today has a network of more than 20,000 small farmers and has also tied up with 100 FPOs (Farmer Producer Organisations).

“Our idea behind starting Otipy was to cater to a large target addressable market (TAM) both for consumers as well as farmers. As such, the average landholding of our farmers is around a hectare. Farmers associated with us have improved their incomes by about 35%-40%,” claims Varun Khurana, CEO and founder of Otipy, in a conversation with The Better India.

“Otipy has also set up its pre-cooling units at the farms which helps keep the produce fresh on the ground, even during peak summers which helps farmers earn the maximum profit. We employ a method called pre-cooling, which reduces the field heat of the produce harvested by farmers and increases the shelf life of the product by almost 50%,” he adds.

Today, the startup also works closely with more than 1,000 partners/re-sellers across Delhi-NCR and Mumbai, who serve more than 10 lakh end consumers with fresh produce at their doorstep. They source a variety of fresh fruits and vegetables from farmers across Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Delhi, Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh, Karnataka, Rajasthan, and Maharashtra.

“We work directly with farmers to deliver fresh, safe, and hygienic produce to consumers within 12 hours from harvest. This ensures our produce is fresh. We also guide farmers about correct harvesting........

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