Bangalore Startup Connects Villages to City Kitchens
A quiet but powerful food revolution is taking root in the outskirts of Bangalore, where a new agri-tech model is merging rural dignity with urban demand. DailyGurus, a farm-to-business startup, is reimagining India’s food supply chain by empowering small farmers and women in villages while delivering traceable, fresh produce to city kitchens. From SoilBox a catalytic programme launched by OmniActive
Improving Lives Foundation in collaboration with Bioriidl and riidl Somaiya Vidyavihar University DailyGurus has built an ecosystem that’s proving food innovation can also mean social transformation.In less than a year, the initiative has brought over 50 small farmers into a fairer supply chain, cutting out middlemen and boosting daily income by ₹15,000 collectively. But perhaps its most significant achievement lies with the 20 local women who have been trained and employed in precision sorting, hygienic cleaning, and smart-packing of vegetables. These women, who previously had only access to seasonal or informal work, now earn steady incomes up to ₹90,000 annually.
Co-founded by Rajesh M and Gnanashekaran, DailyGurus operates with a tech-enabled approach to transparency. Every box of produce delivered to cloud kitchens, restaurants, or grocery stores in Bangalore is tagged with its source—right down to when it was picked and who packed it. This traceability not only reassures urban consumers but also builds pride and accountability among rural workers.“When a woman earns her first consistent income or a farmer watches his produce travel to a city without exploitation, that’s not just logistics—it’s dignity,” says Rushva Parihar, head of OmniActive Improving Lives Foundation. “DailyGurus is cultivating more than food. It’s cultivating hope.”
DailyGurus’ impact is emblematic of what SoilBox aims to nurture across India—startups that combine ecological responsibility with economic inclusion. By supporting grassroots innovations that are localised, tech-enabled, and gender-conscious, SoilBox is nurturing a future where India’s rural economy is resilient, traceable, and transparent.Bhavna Pandya, Chief Incubation Officer at riidl Somaiya Vidyavihar University, believes such models are key to future food security. “DailyGurus is exactly the kind of solution SoilBox was created to support. It uplifts farmer incomes, empowers rural women, and makes the urban food chain more resilient. This is sustainable impact at its best,” she says.
Across multiple states—from West Bengal and Uttarakhand to Gujarat and Tamil Nadu—SoilBox-supported enterprises are redefining how India grows, packages, and consumes food. Yet DailyGurus stands out for its deliberate focus on rural women as economic actors, integrating them at the heart of the value chain rather than its margins.The model is scalable. It combines digital tools, low-carbon logistics, and gender-inclusive training to create a blueprint for modern agribusiness rooted in village soil. In a food system often critiqued for being exploitative and opaque, DailyGurus is making ethical sourcing and rural upliftment part of everyday consumption.
In an India that seeks both technological advancement and inclusive growth, startups like DailyGurus offer a hopeful recipe—where better incomes, cleaner food, and sustainable systems grow from the same root.
