Handpickd, a commerce startup founded in 2024, has raised $15 million in Series A funding led by Bertelsmann India Investments, with Titan Capital Winners Fund and existing backers also participating. The company said the fresh capital will be used to expand its operations, strengthen supply chain technology, and hire across key functions.
The round marks one of the larger early-stage investments this year in India’s growing agri-commerce and fresh produce sector. Handpickd was co-founded by Anant Goel, who earlier launched Milkbasket, along with Nitin Gupta and Sahil Madan.
Unlike traditional grocery and quick commerce players, Handpickd operates on a zero-inventory model. Orders placed by customers are aggregated and sourced directly from farmers before being delivered within six to seven hours. The company does not rely on warehouses, cold storages, or dark stores, a structure it claims reduces wastage significantly while improving profitability at scale.
“We are inverting the demand-supply equation. Instead of pushing stockpiled goods, we procure exactly what the consumer wants and deliver it the same day. This systematically eliminates inefficiencies across the supply chain,” said Anant Goel, co-founder and chief executive.
The model also positions Handpickd differently in India’s competitive fresh food and grocery segment, where players such as Zepto, Blinkit, and BigBasket have invested heavily in warehousing and logistics infrastructure. By bypassing inventory holding, Handpickd aims to achieve faster growth with leaner capital requirements.
Backed by its new investors, the company plans to strengthen its technology stack to improve farmer integration, streamline sourcing, and build predictive systems for demand planning. Expansion into new cities is also on the roadmap.
With consumer demand for fresher, transparent, and waste-free food supply chains rising, Handpickd is betting its model can scale rapidly and profitably in the coming years.
