More than 800 households in Coimbatore city receive fresh milk at their door step every morning from the villages near Annur. The milk has no chemicals or preservatives added and is tested for quality before it is packed. Sold under VilFresh brand, it is the flagship product of Laymen Agro Ventures, a startup based out of Coimbatore.

Procuring milk from 30 farmers, the company also provides employment to youngsters in the villages. The youth are given two wheelers and they bring the milk to the city and take agro inputs for farmers on their return trip daily.

“We started with an initial investment of ₹30 lakh to enter urban kitchens with fresh agro produce. Apart from milk we also supply grains and pulses,” says Selvakumar Varadarajan, its Chief Executive Layman.

With plans to reach out to nearly 8,000 households in Coimbatore, strengthen its product portfolio, set up a unit to make value added products, and commence operations in cities such as Tirupur, Madurai, Tiruchi, and Salem, Laymen Agro requires funds to scale up. And the funding will come from a group of investors in the State and a couple of investment firms.

Nativelead Coimbatore will bring in ₹65 lakh from angel investors in Tamil Nadu and the rest will come from Upaya Social Ventures and Sangam Ventures, says Sivarajah Ramanathan, Founder and President of Nativelead Foundation.

The organisation chose Laymen Agro as it is buying fresh milk from farmers paying a relatively higher price and the model of business can be replicated in other cities.

“We are doing three investments this month in Coimbatore, Tiruchi, and Tindivanam totalling ₹2.4 crore. Of this, ₹1 crore is for Laymen Agro,” he says.

“We will receive the investment in two tranches with the first one on Wednesday,” Mr. Varadarajan adds.

A function will be held here on Wednesday when a new team of office bearers will take charge at Nativelead Coimbatore and the equity investment will be made by the organisation in the startup. Jayaram Govindarajan, who will be chairman of Nativelead Coimbatore for 2019-20, said the team is looking forward to promoting an alternative investment option for native entrepreneurs.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities> Coimbatore / by M. Soundariya Preetha / Coimbatore – February 27th, 2019