Anant Goel, founder and ex-CEO of Milkbasket, announced the launch of Sorted, an omnichannel platform for quality fruits and vegetables (F&V). The new venture is powered by proprietary technology and a franchisee network of digitised mom-and-pop stores. Co-founded by Nitin Gupta and Sahil Madan, the F&V platform has so far raised in excess of $5 million in their ongoing seed round. 

Sorted will enable access of straight-from-the-farmers, quality fruits and vegetables, at a highly competitive price, to customers through the medium of their choice – call, message, online or offline, powered by a network of Sorted franchisees – the existing mom-and-pop stores.

“Sorted is not attempting to change the way India buys F&V, it’s plugging the inefficiencies that plague the existing supply chains. We have undertaken multiple POCs over the last nine months to solve the known industry issues, especially wastage while answering for growth and profitability. And finally, we have Sorted it out! Working closely with mom & pop stores, Sorted is here to capture a significant pie of this $160 billion, high-frequency and high-margin category.” said Anant Goel, the founder and chief executive officer (CEO) of Sorted.

"Based on what ‘we now know’ about this space, the existing grocery models shall continue to struggle to solve for F&V as they are created and optimised for selling FMCG - man-made, pre-packed products with a known shelf life, selling in fixed quantities through a static catalogue - none of which is true for F&V. It just has to be solved differently and distinctly," he added.

Sorted is reportedly the first start-up to take a franchisee route of mom-and-pop stores in this category where customers still prefer to pick up the product themselves.

“Through our proprietary technology platforms, Sorted is able to seamlessly connect consumers with straight-from-the-farmer produce through a dense network of digitised local mom-and-pop stores. With data-first, AI-led forecasting, demand analysis and price benchmarking, we are able to deliver better value to farmers and higher income for mom-and-pop shops while improving quality and reducing prices for the end customer. It's a win-win for everyone involved and we are proud to be transforming how fruits and vegetables are sold in India, one neighbourhood at a time,” observed Nitin Gupta, chief technology officer (CTO) and co-founder of Sorted.