Humus

Humus means the organic carbon present in the topsoil. A Farmer can prosper in life the day He realizes the importance of Humus in the topsoil. The health of society is directly linked with the health of the soil and Humus is the soul of the soil. Let me come to the point, Humus(The brand name of our venture/adventure) is registered with MCA as "VC Agritech Pvt Ltd"(VC refers to Value Chain) headquartered in Bengaluru. The thought process of building a venture in the Agri-sector started in me in Nov 2018 during my exit from the Royal Brothers. The whole idea of Humus/VC Agritech Pvt Ltd is to build a value chain for agri-fresh produce. The journey started with theoretical research followed by a few field visits and interactions with Farmers, Traders, and Hamalis in Mandis, Fresh produce aggregators at Farmgate, Retailers, Wholesalers, and experts from the internet. Chapter: B2B Agri-fresh Produce Supply Chain (Clients - 80-100 Retail/Kiran stores in Bengaluru North and South-West Regions) We did a pilot project of a B2B agri-fresh produce supply chain with a few selected retail/kirana stores in the Bengaluru North region in March 2019. We have supplied around 20 tons of Tomatoes sourced from Kolar and Mysuru during the pilot project. Incorporated the company in April 2019 followed by the official start of operations in May 2019 with a single commodity and 2 SKUs, Tomatoes procured from Kolar. We introduced two more commodities Onion and Potato in June 2019 procured from Umrane and Pimpalgaon of Maharashtra and Kandauli of Uttar Pradesh. We have opened the company and vendor-operated collection/procurement centers in Malur, Kolar, Mysuru, Ckpally, Batthalapally, and Ooty and the SKU count increased to 35 by Sep 2020. We were generating an MRR of INR 1 crore and learned procurement of various agri commodities from different geographies spread across 05 states and the logistics operations of both first-mile and the last mile. Chapter2: Offline B2C, Humus Retail Chain A spacious, clean-hygienic, and well-organized fruits and vegetables retail store with natural air and light penetration won the hearts of thousands of customers and the concept went viral across India. We learned insights into the retail business of F&V from Nov 2020 to Nov 2022 by experimenting with six stores spread across different geographies with different types of customers. The comprehensive learnings of B2B and B2C business with a turnover of approximately INR 40 crore has led us to the new chapter, a first-of-its-kind adventure in the Indian Agri-Sector! Chapter 3: Humus Farms - Coming soon!