India is the largest producer of milk in the world, with 600 million litres, followed by the US. India contributes 20 per cent to the global milk production of 3 billion litres. Despite being the world’s largest dairy producer, the industry remains largely unorganised. Milk spoilage is the biggest challenge for the industry, with 80 million-small-holder dairy farmers struggling, due to lack of transparency in the supply chain, procurement inefficiencies, inconsistent quality and inadequate technology intervention for sustainability.
Then, in 2011, Ranjith Mukundan, a software engineer with a knack of identifying business opportunities, moved into the end-to-end dairy technology solution, by setting up Stellapps Technologies Private Limited, along with friends and making a positive impact in the segment.
Based in Bengaluru, Stellapps is the first of its kind Internet of Things (IoT)-based start-up in India, working towards the digitisation of the dairy supply chain. It also forayed into contract milk manufacturing with MooMark Private Limited, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Stellapps, addressing dedicated, fully traceable, and sustainable dairy solution. Today, the company has established itself as a formidable player in contract milk manufacturing and private label value-added dairy products, under the ‘mooMark’ brand.
From a small beginning with a first-year turnover of Rs10 lakh in 2012, Stellapps has grown as a large player, offering sustainable tech solution for dairy farms, as well as its own dairy products. It has touched a turnover of Rs400 crore at present, from both the verticals, employing over 550 people. “Our low capex tech-powered supply chain and scalable manufacturing infrastructure have empowered our partners to focus on their core strategies, while we handle operational challenges,” says Ranjith, 51, co-founder & CEO, Stellapps.
Born into a middle-class family, Ranjith’s father worked in NGEF (New Government Electric Factory, Karnataka) as an assistant engineer in Bengaluru. Education was always given top priority in the family. A brilliant student, Ranjith did Bachelors in Engineering in Electronics and Communications and, then, MS from Illinois Institute of Technology, Chicago, in Telecom & Software Engineering. He then joined Wipro.
Ranjith soon rose to the position of global head, Wipro’s Telecom Value Added Services Practice and delivered solutions for global clientele across the US and Europe – Microsoft, AT&T, Nortel, Nokia, British Telecom, et al. While spending time in the US and the UK, he witnessed the start-up boom in the tech space and developed a zeal for entrepreneurship.
Focus on one vertical
Ranjith realised that technology was the key to an emerging economy. He shared this idea with his friends who were also part of his team in Wipro. “We agreed with the idea but were uncertain about the future – whether it is wise to leave a well-paid job in Wipro and start on our own, since most of us were from middle class families,” recalls Ranjith.
Finally, Ranjith and Ravishankar G. Shiroor, an IIT, Madras, alumnus, along with other partners founded Stellapps, incubated at IIT, Madras, under the guidance of Ashok Jhunjhunwala, professor & then chairman, IIT Madras, incubation cell, who had advised the team to focus into one vertical, rather than the many horizontal verticals. So, the team planned to get into the dairy business, which required an initial investment of Rs1.25 crore – of which Rs50 lakh came from IIT Madras as seed fund. “The first half year was really bootstrap. We were practically living off our savings,” says Ravishankar, co-founder & COO. He oversees the company’s technology and digital access network. Later, Stellapps raised funds over the years from investors for expansion. Some of the prominent investors are Gates Foundation, Omnivore, Celesta, ABB, Qualcomm and Nutreco.
Ranjith and Ravishankar spent several months visiting farms and the farming community in several states with their team, for data acquisition and to offer solutions through digitisation of the supply chain. They knew there was a strong need for technological interventions to unlock unprecedented value on a very large scale.
Stellapps Technologies digitise and optimise milk production, milk procurement and cold chain management through its diverse product portfolios like mooON, smartAMCU, smartCC, Con Trak, mooOpt, mooFlowErp and mooPay. From improving the productively of cattle and the efficiency of milk procurement, to controlling and monitoring of cold chain operation, acquiring of data from sensors embedded in animal wearable and providing a platform for financial services for loan and insurance – all are under one roof.
Stellapps smartAMCU is the highest selling product of the company. As much as 70 per cent of the tech business revenue comes from this product.
Carbon emission calculator
“Product innovation is a continuous process,” says Ravishankar. “At present, our research team is also in the making of carbon emission calculator for dairy industry. The product should be ready in six months”.
Stellapps Technologies is the clear market leader in end-to-end dairy technology solutions, claims Ranjith. “There are multiple players in Europe and the US. But, in India, nobody provides integrated solutions like us. Some people tried to import technology that existed in Israel and the US and tried to fit it into in Indian scheme of things but failed.” Fasal Agro, Waycool and FlixDrop are some other players in the segment.
Stellapps’ tech products are used by 250 small, medium and large dairy farms in the country. Over 3.5 million registered farmers, deployed in the system in 42,000 villages across India, are processing over 14 million litres of milk every day.
COMFED, VRS Foods (Paras Dairy), Sonai Dairy, Varn Beverages, Creamline Dairy, Karnataka Co-operative Milk Producers’ Federation, Heritage Foods, Kerala Co-operative Milk Marketing Fedaration, Vallhabha Milk Products, among others, are in the business too. But, ‘’Stellapps has been a key technology partner in streamlining our milk procurement operations in Uttar Pradesh. Its digital solutions have enhanced traceability, transparency, and efficiency across our dairy sourcing network. Their deep expertise in dairy-tech makes them a trusted enabler of our quality-first approach,” says Khushal Singh Phartiyal, vice-president, dairy operation, Varun Beverage Ltd.
Stellapps commenced its dairy business in 2020 initially, by selling raw milk in tankers since it did not have a processing plant. The first processing plant was taken on lease in 2023 at Varanasi in UP and subsequently at Bidadi in Bengaluru. Together both have the capacity to process 240,000 litres a day. The dairy plant in Bidadi is an advanced production facility and ensures value-added dairy solutions to customers.
Our low capex tech-powered supply chain and scalable manufacturing infrastructure have empowered our partners to focus on their core strategies, while we handle operational challenges
MooMark dairy provides tailored solutions for FMCG, HoReCa, and D2C businesses, offering private labelling, contract manufacturing, ingredient sourcing and concept-to-product development for value added dairy products. HUL, ITC, SIDS Farm, ID Fresh, Varun Beverages, Namdharis, Gyan and KC Das are some of the coveted customers of the mooMark.
“We realised that it is not wise to restrict ourselves by being a technology solution provider only,” says Ranjith. “Then, the growth opportunity will become limited. A dairy technology farm should venture into direct dairy business to leverage its expertise in technology and data analysis to improve milk production, quality and efficiency, leading to increased profitability.”
With access to 67,000 farmers, a 240,000-litre daily capacity and two advanced facilities across 1,600 villages, Stellapps brings products like curd, paneer, ghee and cheese, offering itself traceability, scalable production and sustainable sourcing. Paneer is the highest selling product of mooMark. Its Bidadi plant is now enhancing its paneer-processing capacity from three tonnes to 12 tonnes a day.
About 87 per cent of the volume in a glass of milk is water. The remaining 13 per cent consists of solids like fat, protein, lactose, and minerals. “We are working towards delivering high-quality, differentiated dairy products – like high-protein variants and pro-biotic beverages – to meet the growing expectations of health-conscious consumers, says Manoj Pawar, senior vice-president, Stellapps. Arun Agarwal, head of marketing, concurs. “Nutrition, innovation and quality are at the core of building trust with today’s FMCG and D2C brands,” he adds.
Dairy business is growing fast for Stellapps. Today, it constitutes 85 per cent of the company’s revenue of Rs400 crore. Tech business contributes 10 per cent, while the balance 5 per cent comes from input services of mooPay and mooMark.
Stellapps is set to ramp up its milk processing capacity. “We are planning to take three manufacturing units on a long-term lease in Andhra, Delhi NCR and UP, in the next one year, at an investment of Rs50-60 crore,” Ranjith informs. These units will process another 300,000-400,000 litres of milk per day.
Ranjith says that people reach out to him with tempting offers to buy him out, but he wants to take the company public during the next five years.