An interesting agritech startup announced a funding of USD 6 million
The agritech industry is growing and bringing a rapid change in the traditional industry of our country.
Let us talk about the agritech industry. As the name suggests, agritech = agriculture+ technology. The agricultural technology, which is also called agritech, AgriTech, or agrotech, is nothing but the use and implementation of technology in agriculture, horticulture, and all other domains of agriculture with the motive to bring a change in the agricultural industry, in order to increase and improve the yield, efficiency, and eventually the profitability of the agriculture industry.
The agritech industry makes use of sophisticated technology like robots, temperature sensors, GPS technology, moisture sensors, and aerial images. The use of these advanced technologies allows the agricultural business to be safer and environment friendly which otherwise would have been very dangerous to one’s life as well as the environment.
Talking about the agritech industry of the world, the market value of the industry was USD 17442.7 million in the year 2019 and it is expected to increase at a CAGR of 12.1% from the year 2020 to 2027, wherein the year 2027 is predicted that the market value of the industry will be USD 41172.5 million. North America had the highest share in the agritech market in the year 2019 with a revenue share of 38.59%. Then came in the line APAC, with a share in the revenue at 29.68%, and then Europe. APAC is expected to grow at a CAGR of steady rate from the year 2020 to 2027.
Now coming to India, the country is implementing modern techniques in its agriculture industry and the future looks promising for the agritech industry of our country. According to the estimates and the predictions made, the Indian agritech industry has the potential to reach USD 24 billion by the year 2025. Even our Prime Minister, Shree Narendra Modi has signed agreements with big US companies like Amazon, Microsoft, Cisco Systems, in order to bring a change in the agriculture sector.
Let us now have a discussion on the funding of an agritech startup that has taken place recently.
Announcement of funding of an agritech startup
The startup, Our Food has raised funds worth USD 6 million, which is equivalent to INR 45 crore, as announced on January 25, 2022. The round of funding that has taken place was led by existing investor 3Lines Venture Capital. A new investor also joined the startup by leading this round of funding. That new investor is C4D Asia Fund. With this round of funding, the Chairman of 3Lines India and ex-CEO of Reliance Infrastructure, Lalit Jain, will join the Board of Directors of the startup.
The funds received by the startup will help the startup in boosting and increasing capacity to more than 6000 operational franchises. The funds raised will also help the startup to position itself for an IPO in the year 2024. The startup also plans to increase operations, increase manufacturing capacity, and improve the agricultural food supply chain.
About the agritech startup that has announced its funding
The agritech startup, Our Food, was founded by Bala Reddy, who is also the CEO and is based in Hyderabad. The startup is a technology-driven agribusiness platform that is on the mission to bringe a change in the food processing industry by decentralizing it, with an innovative farmer adoption and supply-chain platform that brings enagagement across the country. The startup is focused on disrupting the traditional centralized food processing industry by establishing the network of “Farmer Franchises” that makes use of new age, low-cost micro-processing units and they take the help of rural entrepreneurs to process the raw material at the farm gate.
The startup makes sure that it helps in creating value to the farmers’ by-
a) Selecting Micro-Entrepreneurs
b) Guidance on Shed Construction
c) Hands-on training on Processing
d) Financial Assistance for shed construction, machinery, and working capital
e) Food quality assurance and sales of processed out
The features provided by the startup are-
Best Consumer Products- The startup believes in Responsible Consumerism. All the available products are grown and processed by the Farmer Franchisees on their farms.
Rural Financing- To encourage the farmers by facilitating Financial Assistance to get Low-Cost Digital Loans to run the farmer franchisee efficiently.
Best Mini Processing units- Early-stage value addition at the farm gate using low-cost processing machinery.
Sustainable Farm-level intervention- The startup is providing efficient market linkages and helping farmers to get Fair Prices for their produce.
The startup provides guidance and facilities in such a way that the farmers are turned into entrepreneurs.
It provides low-cost processing equipment along with financial assistance so that the farmer has a market-ready product to sell in the market.
The startup eliminates the middlemen in the supply chain thus bringing the reduction in the cost of transaction and thus providing the best price to the farmer and consumer.
The startup bridges the gap between the farmers and consumers through the platform thus in a way reducing wastage, lead time, and operational inefficiencies.
The startup cares and grows village level entrepreneurs by-
1.Farmer Identification and onboarding
2.Assessment and Pre Screening
3.Identify Farmer Entrepreneur
4.Farmer Franchise onboarding
5.Machinery Supply and Setup
6.Loan Facilitation
7.Machinery manufacture and supply
8.Installation
9.Training, Operationalise
10.Maintenance Support
11.Book Keeping
12.Marketing Linkage
The startup is serving in 12 states including Rajasthan, Andhra Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Telangana, Maharashtra, and many others, with 198632 farmers have been served across the country. It has 1814 farmer franchises around the nation, with 14316 villages served, and 700 customers around the world.
The startup is definitely doing something different for our agriculture industry. It is doing something which no one had thought ever, which is to make our fellow farmers the new entrepreneurs. We wish the startup a bit of good luck in its mission and hope that it is able to achieve success in what it is up to.
Edited and published by Ashlyn
