TATA NEN Hottest Startups Awards - eFarm / Matchbox Solutions - venkata Subramanian

eFarm / Matchbox Solutions | 2007

venkata Subramanian | Chennai | Agribusiness/ Agriculture
Nominated on Oct 23 2008 9:31AM | by Venkat Subramanian

eFarm / Matchbox Solutions - Snapshot

Organizing the unorganized agri sector

Business Basics

Company Name	eFarm / Matchbox Solutions
Founded in	2007
Headquartered in	Chennai
Company website/URL	www.matchboxsolutions.in
Industry	Agribusiness/ Agriculture
Stage of the company	Scaling up
Source of idea	Developed family or friend?s idea
Awards & honors	None yet
Partnerships & Tie-ups	Farmers associations of Tamil Nadu, Farmers market (Theni, Hosur) , Organic farmers association, TN Tamilnadu Agricultural University (guidance & lea...> Read more..
Partnerships & Tie-ups	Farmers associations of Tamil Nadu, Farmers market (Theni, Hosur) , Organic farmers association, TN Tamilnadu Agricultural University (guidance & leads), Indian bank Microsate II, Nivedita NGO, Montforth Community Development services (NGO) < Back

Business description

eFarm is a network of farmers, intermediaries, logistics providers, distributors and retailers, which has been formed, to procure vegetables and fruits direct from source and deliver them at low costs to consumers in the cities.Currently, over 95% of agricultural produce reaches the end consumer through unorganized and unregulated marketing channels, which is the primary reason for high price fluctuations, wastage, unreliability and poor quality. eFarm is working on 'organizing' this 'un-organized' rural to urban supply chain and create an easy, economical and efficient sourcing and distribution network. This ensures better prices for all members in the chain. For details : http://www.matchboxsolutions.in/eFarm.html

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How does the business make money?

Being a perishable commodity, vegetable sales have traditionally been cash & carry. We have taken it one step further, and have even started advanced payment model to ensure buy-in from customers and lock in best prices by advance payments to farmers. We are a pay-per-use transactional platform where all stakeholders are paid/receive payment on item procured or service rendered.

Team information

Our team is a combination of expertise, street level knowledge, formal educational background and fresh talent. Venkat Founder/CEO : UG- IIT, Kharagpur (B.Arch) , PG - MS (Computer Science) from Univeristy at Albany, NY. Venkat has over 12 years experience in IT in several leading Indian Software Consulting firms. He has managed several prestigious multi million dollar accounts in Insurance and Capital markets segment. He has very strong experiences in developing complex systems, consulting and mentoring young teams.

Yamuna : M.Phil , MS,B.Sc B.Ed . Retired from Yamuna has been associated with media and has headed several key roles in Doordarshan Kendra for over 35 years. She oversees the public relations, customer relationships and coordination with NGOs/self help groups.

Sankara Krishnan is a serial entrepreneur, well versed in most rural industries and agriculture based operations. He has indepth knowledge on logistics and transportation industry, having worked with several leading operators. He currently handles all sourcing and logistics operations of eFarm. We have a panel of experts, retired-former executives who offer consultancy on specific areas/domains on as needed basis.

Competition

Competitors	Our competitors are currently handling one or more areas of the entire supply chain problem space, for.e.g ITC e-Chaupal, SAFAL/SNX, Branded agri retail outlets like Reliance fresh, commission agents in local mandis/wholesale markets.
How different is your product or service? It has...	No substitutes available
In what way is your product or service different?	There is no reliable rural to urban supply chain & distribution system in India. We offer a single platform which connects all stakeholders into a sha...> Read more..
In what way is your product or service different?	There is no reliable rural to urban supply chain & distribution system in India. We offer a single platform which connects all stakeholders into a shared platform. It is simple to use and understandable by the illiterate, at same time powerful and adopts industry standard backoffice systems for the tech savvy. eFarm has studied the gaps and has combined a few successful paradigms to create a shared sourcing/marketing/distribution platform which is : A IT based B2B order matching/fulfillment system (e.g. Amazon, eBay) A low cost, efficient, 'Indianised' logistics & delivery mechanism (e.g. Dubbawallahs) A people driven Direct To Consumer Marketing/Retailing channel (e.g. Amway) Bottom Up Entrepreneur driven model (Self help groups, Micro finance) < Back

By The Numbers

	2006	2007
No. of employees	Did not exist	0-5
No. of locations	Did not exist	0-1
No. of customers	Did not exist	16-50
Turnover	Did not exist	Under 10 lacs
Profits	Did not exist	breakeven

Primary source of initial funding	Personal savings
Primary source of additional funding	Family & friends
Raised institutional capital?	No

Why is this startup hot?

Rising vegetable prices and deteriorating farmers condition is a double edged sword. It needs lot of focus, passion, drive and hardwork to help fix this issue. We feel we have the right talent and attitude to move the mountain. We believe that to meet any social objective it is vital to also bring in a business objective to help achieve sustainable resul...> Read more..

It is highly entrepreneur driven and promotes self employment through SHG/microfinance at all levels. We are not re-inventing the wheel, just connect the dots/spokes in existing infrastructure & models to achieve our goals. We adapt and adopt technology to suit the needs and requirements of our smallest to our largest of customers to use the system with equal ease.

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What keeps the team awake at night?

Our late night delivery trucks and early morning distribution operations!

We have 1.2 billion customers to feed and miles to go before we sleep. Being a one stop shop from farmers to end consumers, we need to work 24x7 to beat the clock, meet the quality and price levels. The constant challenge and daily lessons learnt keeps us motivated to keep slogging towards our end goal one day at a time!

Entrepreneur's Details
Name		venkata Subramanian
Age		36
Hometown		Chennai
Family background		First gen entrepreneur
More than 1 company?		No
Education		Masters
Graduated from		IIT
Former employer		Wipro
Former designation		Program Manager
Area of responsibility		Insurance, Capital markets
Favorite book/movie		Bhagavad Gita

Voting Closed

Experts Comments

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“The company is in a great space of agriculture,The company has a clear market at present.......” > Read more..

The company is in a great space of agriculture,which is facing significant challenges in supply chain management.

The company has a clear market at present. However, the real barriers are in execution. If the company can get its supply chain right, then only sky is the limit.

The company has got the right team, which should see the execution done properly. However, it needs to get alliances, tie-ups and at the same time focus on getting supply chain right.

A great space with a great team helps build a true and successful, sustainable business.

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“It's an innovative approach......” > Read more..

eFarm is tackling an enormous problem: the inefficiencies in the farm-to-consumer supply chain.They are deploying IT backbone, and forging partnerships all along the chain: with farmers/suppliers, lorry operators, and NGO's to do the work on the ground.

The driver of the supply is the consumer: by ordering online in advance, they allow eFarm to aggregate their demand and take it straight to the farmer.

It's an innovative approach, which they have just launched in specific locals in Chennai.

One could imagine that an internet-savvy group of consumers might want to know that their produce is fresh, organic, and delivered to their doorstep, and the solution as outlined by eFarm certainly seems to have strong possibilities - at least to grow to some scale, working with this particular population of consumers.

However, as they themselves admit, many organizations - from government to large corporates - have attempted to rationalize this supply chain, with very limited success.

One has high hopes for the eFarm approach, and will watch to see what happens as they roll out their solution.

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