Freshworld: Marrying The Art of Street Vending With The Science of Modern Retail

The case tracks the evolution of FreshWorld, a unique mobile fruit and vegetable vending (FnV) start-up in India. It gives a snapshot of the dilemmas faced by the entrepreneur, Rajiv Rao, during the initial years. This is against the backdrop of the evolving FnV retail domain in India, which is moving from the informal to the formal sector, from roadside vendor and mom and pop stores to organized retail, from technology independence to technology dependence.

The case sets the stage for discussing how a start-up needs to understand the market, the customer, and the competition. It provides students with an opportunity to examine a start-up using the lens of the lean start-up methodology. Having surmounted various challenges that were directly related to the way in which FreshWorld was conceived of as a solution; Rao must decide what to do next. He could share his plan and request more funding from his investors. Alternately, he could accept a buyout offer from a leading online retailer. The task before the students is to examine FreshWorld journey and identify where the entrepreneur is in his endeavor? What can he do? How would he decide? This case can be used in a course on entrepreneurship or social entrepreneurship.