Omnichannel meat and seafood brand TenderCuts has raised Rs 110 crore ($15 million) in a round led by Paragon Partners, a mid-market PE fund founded by Siddharth Parekh and Sumeet Nindrajog with participation from NABVENTURES, a leading agri-food tech VC fund backed by NABARD.
The funding will allow TenderCuts to expand its current operations and pursue organic and inorganic growth opportunities. The funds will also allow the company to invest in scaling up its supply chain and technology infrastructure to support innovation and accessibility of its products and services.
Founded in 2016 by Nishanth Chandran, TenderCuts is revolutionising the way meat and seafood is sold in India. Indian consumers, unlike their western counterparts, prefer fresh (never frozen) meat and seafood. Also, many consumers have specific preferences in terms of the cuts of their meat and fish.
TenderCuts provides meat and seafood to customers through its neighbourhood stores which cater not only to walk-in customers, but also online shoppers.
TenderCuts offers the freshest meat to consumers – either in stores or delivered to their doorstep within 2 hours of it first being cut.
India’s meat and seafood market is worth $100 billion in size, however, over 95% of the market is unorganised. The organised meat segment has seen a rapid acceleration of business during the pandemic driven by an increasing number of people focussing on quality, health, hygiene, and convenience.
Today, TenderCuts has 25 stores across Chennai and Hyderabad which cater to walk-in and online customers. The company’s core product portfolio includes fresh chicken, mutton, seafood, marinades, pickles, and eggs. Besides, the company also has an expansive ready-to-eat and ready-to-cook product range comprising cold cuts, sausages, kebabs, shawarmas, etc.
TenderCuts Founder and CEO Nishanth Chandran said, “It is heartening to see TenderCuts become a market leader in the cities it operates in after it has managed to transform the way fresh meat and seafood is sold in these markets. It is an affirmation of the unique omnichannel and seamless supply chain model in the sector. This investment will pave the way for us to enter new markets and further establish our omnichannel network.”
Paragon Partners Co-Founder, and Senior Partner Siddharth Parekh said, “We believe that TenderCuts has an opportunity to leverage its robust supply chain of farmers and fishermen and its omnichannel strategy to efficiently cater to the mass market.”
Alvarez & Marsal and Klaw were the commercial and financial diligence and legal advisors respectively to Paragon Partners, Acuity Law advised NABVENTURES while investment banker IndigoEdge facilitated the transaction.
