Exclusive: Waycool raises $12 Mn from Trifecta, expands ESOP pool by 20%

B2B food and agritech platform Waycool is raising Rs 95 crore or $12 million in a mix of debt and equity from venture debt firm Trifecta Ventures.

Two months ago, Waycool had raised $40 million in an equity and debt round led by alternative investment firm 57 Stars Global Innovation Fund. It was the second round of funding for the Chennai-based firm in 2022.

The board at Waycool has passed a resolution to issue 902 CCPS at an issue price of Rs 59,836 per share and 900 non-convertible debentures (NCDs) at issue price of Rs 10,00,000 each to raise an aggregate of Rs 95 crore, regulatory filing with the Registrar of Companies (RoC) show.

The Chennai-based company has also expanded its ESOP pool by adding 15,371 ESOP options worth Rs 92 crore. 

As per Fintrackr’s estimates, Waycool’s ESOP pool trust now stands at 92,758 employee stock options and is valued at Rs 552 crore or $70 million (post expansion).

Founded by Karthik Jayaraman and Sanjay Dasari, the company claims to work with more than 150,000 farmers and 100,000 clients who source agricultural and dairy products from the platform.

While Waycool is yet to file its annual financial statement for FY22, its operating revenue grew 40% in FY21 to Rs 382.33 crore. As per Fintrackr’s analysis, close to 98% of its income came through sales of traded goods which stood at Rs 380.12 crore. The company’s losses jumped 52.8% in FY21 to Rs 148.69 crore in the fiscal year ending March 2021.

Waycool has emerged as one of the top fundraising startups in the agritech space which also include Walmart and Flipkart-backed Ninjacart, DeHaat, Absolute, AgroStar and Arya.ag.

Data compiled by Fintrackr shows that around 100 agritech startups raised close to $1.33 billion across 139 deals between January 2020 and June 2022. In the past couple of months, Vegrow, Veg Route, Produze and Loopworm also joined the list.