Edited excerpts from the press release:
Ventureast Life Fund, an early growth and growth stage fund focused on the food and agriculture, clean environment and healthcare delivery sectors, has invested Rs.25 crores in VKS Farms, a Coimbatore-based, integrated meat processing company. Shekhar Kundur, General Partner of Ventureast, joins the Board of VKS Farms. The funding will be utilized for completing VKS's back-end operations, and expanding its retailing capability.
VKS's differentiation stems from its diverse product mix of chicken, egg, meat and salt; integrated poultry supply-chain, spanning 'grandparents' to commercial birds facilities to processing to retailing; exports to over 30 countries, besides domestic presence; and state-of-the-art processing plant built to international standards.
Shekhar Kundur said, “Hygienic meat retailing is the way forward in this unorganized market. With a comprehensive and efficient supply chain in place, we expect VKS Farms to have a strong competitive edge in the sector. The Company's wide presence in the export market will supplement this.”
“The investment by Ventureast will position VKS to achieve a four-fold growth in the next three years. The investment will be utilized to fund completion of the Company‟s backward integration and expansion of its meat retailing initiative. These will enable VKS to deliver hygienic, processed meats to the end-consumer”, said A.Sivakumar, Founder and Managing Director of VKS Farms.