Indian Angel Network (IAN) and tyre-maker Michelin have started a logistics initiative to improve the efficiency of moving produce from the farm to the market.
The initiative - Farm to Market Logistics (F2ML) - is an incubator managed by IAN, a network of angel investors investing in start-ups and early stage ventures, and supported by Michelin. It will seek ideas that will help make the food supply chain generate less waste through new practices, behaviours and solutions, the company said in a statement.
“It has been IAN’s continuous endeavour to invest in innovative ideas across sectors. In partnership with Michelin, IAN would like to focus particularly on the food supply chain. The challenge of moving food produce efficiently from the farms to tables, reducing the current level of waste creates many opportunities to invent and grow profitable businesses in India,” said Saurabh Srivastava, co-founder of IAN.
Shortlisted innovators and entrepreneurs of this initiative will receive assistance on designing their products or service, building prototypes, getting customer validation and preparing the foundation for commercialisation of the idea.
The F2ML initiative is open to individuals, teams or Indian start-ups and SMEs and will endeavour to encourage innovators to become entrepreneurs. The shortlisted applications will be assigned business mentors from the IAN mentor pool, comprising successful entrepreneurs, investors and senior professionals.