Country Delight

Country Delight is an Indian direct-to-consumer (D2C) company specializing in the delivery of fresh milk and other food essentials. Founded in 2015 by IIM Indore graduates Chakradhar Gade and Nitin Kaushal, the Gurugram-based startup was born from their personal struggle to find unadulterated, high-quality milk for their own families. Gade, with a background in software engineering and finance at firms like Infosys and Citibank, and Kaushal, with experience in corporate banking at HSBC, identified a significant gap in the Indian dairy market for trustworthy and fresh products. They embarked on a mission to disrupt the traditional supply chain, which was often fragmented and lacked stringent quality controls.

The company's business model is anchored in a subscription-based service managed through a proprietary mobile application. This farm-to-doorstep model eliminates intermediaries, ensuring products reach consumers within 24-48 hours of sourcing. Country Delight sources directly from a network of over 5,000 farmers, paying them a premium to foster ethical procurement practices and improve their working capital cycle. Revenue is primarily generated from these subscriptions, which account for about 90% of sales, supplemented by one-time purchases and sales of premium products. The company has demonstrated significant growth, reporting a revenue of ₹1,380 crore in FY24.

Technology is central to Country Delight's operations, underpinning its full-stack supply chain. The company utilizes over 17 in-house applications and IoT devices to manage everything from real-time quality tracking to demand forecasting. A key feature is the complete traceability of products, allowing the monitoring of the entire journey from farm to consumer. Quality control is exceptionally rigorous, with milk undergoing extensive testing for purity and safety. To build consumer trust, the company provides customers with a milk-testing kit, developed in collaboration with the DRDO, and makes detailed quality reports accessible via the app.

Initially focused on delivering pure cow and buffalo milk, Country Delight has expanded its product portfolio significantly. The platform now offers a wide array of daily essentials, including ghee, paneer, yogurt, breads, eggs, fresh fruits and vegetables, pulses, and cooking oils. This expansion caters to the urban consumer's need for a reliable, one-stop shop for fresh groceries, delivered to their doorstep by 7 AM. The company has successfully raised over $221 million in funding across multiple rounds from prominent investors like Temasek, Orios Venture Partners, Elevation Capital, and Matrix Partners India, pushing its valuation to approximately $820 million as of early 2024.

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