Local butcher stores sourcing and tech enabling startup “The Meat Chop” based out of Chennai on Tuesday announced that it has raised INR 7 crores in seed funding from Mohan K Co-Founder IppoPay, Ankur Agarwal Co-Founder Dunzo, Meenakshi Sundaram, Jaikumar R Co-Founder IppoPay, Rahul Mahipal Founder Capitar Ventures, Omar Bin Brek Founder & CEO Foloosi a UAE based FinTech, Amith D’Souza Google, and Other global angel investors.
The Meat Chop plans to utilise this investment for expansion, building a strong team and brand, enhancing technology and supply chain infrastructure. Powered by its data-driven and technology-backed systems, TMC enables local butcher shops to offer superior customer experience and effectively compete with large retail chains through in-store and online sales.
“Our goal is to create a platform to fix the information asymmetry in supply and demand that has plagued this market for a very long time”, The Meat Chop CEO Appaas said. “While 99% of the $70 billion meat & seafood retailing is handled by the local butcher stores, the incentives were not actually reaching the butcher stores due to limited product shelf life, poor sourcing and lack of access to technology.”
Founded in January 2021 by four friends Appaas, Kalyan, Navas and Yasar TMC manages procurement, marketing, promotions, and merchandising for the butcher stores on its platform through tech systems and a standard operating plan; so that the store owners can focus on what they are best at – building relationships and serving customers.
Kalyan CTO (Ex-Zoho, NIT Trichy) said, “Our intention is to solve the Low Margin Low Profit problem faced by the stakeholders in the crowded value chain using an integrated tech stack platform.”
The butcher stores on its platform have seen a 50% to 60% growth in sales volume, reducing dump by 90% and clocking nearly ₹1.5 crore on an average in annual sales.
“It only took me 15 mins to embrace the idea and become part of the journey to create a tech platform to eliminate the middlemen”, IppoPay Co-Founder Mohan K said. “I hail from a fishermen family and have been aware of the hardships faced by everyone in my village. After risking all their lives in the high waters, the real benefit had never reached them with most of the values stuck between the dump, act of god and the middlemen.
Ankur Agarwal, Co-Founder Dunzo said, “TMC is bringing the benefits enjoyed by organised players to the local butcher shops including quality sourcing, tech stack, data analytics and last mile delivery. With meat & seafood retailing continuing to be very localised and personalised, TMC can help the local butcher shops extend modern shopping experience to the next billion customers.”