An exciting agritech startup announced a funding of USD 4 million
An agritech startup has announced funding. What an exciting and delightful piece of news it is!
Let us talk about the agritech industry. Putting it in a simple equation- agriculture + technology = agritech. The agritech refers to the use of technology in order to produce more with less so that the farming processes are more efficient which may be from field monitoring to the food supply chain. This domain is not only helpful in the development of crops but also in the development of synthetic fertilizers, pesticides, and any other thing which is related to farms.
Now if we talk about how the agritech industry is performing in the country, the agriculture domain is the source of employment for more than 40 percent of the population and is the contributor of around 19.9 percent to the national GDP. The global agritech market is subjected to increase at a CAGR of 12.1% between 2020 to 2027. The main competitors of India in this domain are China and USA.
Our country has more than 1300 agricultural startups, wherein the states of Karnataka, Maharashtra, and NCR are the major hubs of agritech startups in the country.
Let us now talk about the funding of the agritech startup that has taken place recently.
Announcement of funding of an agritech startup
The agritech startup, Agrizy has raised funds worth USD 4 million, which is equivalent to INR 30 crore as announced on April 04, 2022. The round of funding was the seed round of funding and was led by Ankur Capital and saw the participation from various investors and angel investors like Omnivore, Rajesh Yabaji, who is the CEO of BlackBuck, co-founders of Zetwerk, Srinath Ramakkrushnan, Amrit Acharya, Rahul Sharma, Vishal Chaudhary, and many others. This round of funding is the first time Ankur Capital has made an investment through their India Pitch First program.
The startup has planned to use the funds raised in building strong teams of business and engineering. The startup also has planned to use some amount of the funds raised in developing a suite of the processed Agri marketplace and even increase its customer transaction in the targeted value chains across various locations in the country.
About the agritech startup that has announced its funding
The agritech startup, Agrizy was founded in September 2021 by Vicky Dodani and Saket Chirania and has its headquarters in Bengaluru, Karnataka. The startup is engaged in building a first-tech platform to close the gap in the processed Agri supply chain. The agritech startup has its focuses on connecting the processors and buyers of non-perishable farm products across categories of both food and non-food products like jute, oilseeds, pulses, cereals, and many others.
About Ankur Capital
With headquarters in Mumbai, Maharashtra, Ankur Capital is an early-stage venture capital firm that is engaged in investing in startups with transformative technologies for the next billion Indians. Ankur Capital is building the future. It partners with founders who dream of being the architects of innovation in agritech, food, health, and education. It works with entrepreneurs and provides capital, advice, support, and tools they need to make a difference from the start.
The portfolio of Ankur Capital consists of companies like WASABI, Captain Fresh, Jinny, Numen, Suma Agro, String Bio, Cropin, BigHaat, Health Sutra, Niramai, TBH (To be Healthy), and many others.
What has been said about the deal?
Vicky Dodani who is the co-founder of the startup Agrizy made a statement saying that the aim of the startup is to be the single point of contact for the units of Agri processing. He further said that the startup plans to fulfill this aim by providing them with an end-to-end fulfillment platform and making their procurement and sales cycle simple.
Saket Chirania who is the co-founder of the agritech startup, Agrizy said that there is a lot of potential in the agritech market that has not yet been tapped. He further said that there are many ways that technology can be used to grow and thrive the agro-processing units.
Krishnan Neelakantan, who is a Partner at Ankur Capital made a comment according to which Ankur Capital has been diligently following the Agri community space which is worth USD 500 billion. He further said that Ankur Capital has been looking out for large opportunities to get them unlocked.
The agritech startup is aiming for many big things, if successful it will bring a huge change in the agritech picture of this country. We wish the startup a bit of good luck and hope it has a healthy and prosperous future ahead!
edited and proofread by nikita sharma
