Nexus Venture Partners has invested Rs 10 crore in Sohan Lal Commodity Management (SLCM), an agri-commodity logistics and procurement company based in Delhi.
SLCM provides comprehensive agri-commodity warehouse management and procurement solutions to farmers, processors, traders, agri-exchanges and government organizations across 70 locations and 12 states in India. Last year the company handled over Rs 5,000 crore worth of agri-commodities ranging from grains, oilseeds, pulses and spices among others, it said in a press statement.
SLCM works with leading commodity exchanges as their delivery partner across India and provides collateral management for banks for their warehouse receipt based financing products. The company will use the monies to become the leading agri-logistics company in India covering the whole gamut from farm to port. The funding will help it expand its warehousing capacity and help us grow our pan-India presence.
The company currently works with some leading names in the agri-commodity space such as Cargill, AWB, Adani, Jindal, Ruchi Soya, Louis Dreyfus, Glencore as a service provider.
Sandeep Singhal of Nexus Venture Partners who will join the Sohan Lal Commodity Management board, said, “The agriculture supply chain in India is currently very inefficient leading to huge losses in agri commodities in India.”
In one of its earlier agri transactions in India, the venture capital firm has invested in Suminter India Organics, an organic farming firm in India.
ICICI bank was the sole advisor to this transaction.
With funds of $320 million under management, Nexus's portfolio includes Komli (Internet ad network), Suminter (Organic farming), Dlight (Solar Lights), DimDim (Open Source Web Conferencing), Mapmyindia (Digital Navigation), Unicon (Financial Services) and Netmagic (Internet managed service provider).
