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"Agriculture was the first occupation of man, and as it embraces the whole earth, it is the foundation of all other industries " said EW Stewart.
India is the second largest agricultural land in the world, here about 60% of rural Indians make their living from agriculture. The wealth flow into this segment through startups has been a welcome change. Nearly 100 agritech startups raised close to $1.33 billion across 139 deals between January 2020 and June 2022, according to Fintrackr.
How is Technology changing agriculture?
Just like every other sector, agriculture has also got irrigated by tech companies in the past few years, to reconstruct the agriculture business model.
India's National Strategy acknowledged agriculture as a crash project for the implementation of Al-driven solutions. According to the Niti Aayog, Al in agriculture is expected to grow at a rate of 22.5 percent CAGR and is likely to be valued at $2.6 billion by 2025. With a home of more than 1500 Agritech startups, let's see the 10 most exciting ones:
It is India's largest fresh produce supply chain platform i.e. it's a B2B hyperlocal food delivery service. Thirukumaran Nagarajan founded Ninjacart as an on-demand grocery delivery company in 2015 along with Vasudevan, Kartheeswaran, Sharath, Sachin, and Ashutosh. It currently moves more than 60 tons of produce a day from farms to retailers, and shops in less than 12 hours.
Ninjacart has a lot to offer:
- A broad variety of Vegetables and Fruits
- The prices are reasonable.
- Large Selection of Vegetables and Fruits
- Smooth Payments
- Easy Supply Management
- Daily Stock Replenishment
With the latest funding of $145 Million, it is currently standing at a valuation of $815 Mn. Ninjacart has turned out to be the manikin of agriculture startups as it is marching to become the first unicorn from the agritech space.
Waycool is a B2B agritech platform that supplies farm-fresh edibles like fruits and vegetables to shops and retail outlets. Founded by Karthik Jayaram and Sanjay Dasari in 2015. Waycool is a techno geek in the agriculture sector in India.
They have introduced new quality control and food safety technology to help farmers to raise their revenues. It also improves others' shadow, i.e. logistics, and distribution services are enhanced with the latest technology and innovation.
Waycool has raised $117 million in series D funding with a valuation of $460 million in January 2022. And aims towards becoming the world's largest food development and distribution firm and hand in hand improving the lives of Indian farmers.
DEHAAT :
DeHaat is a farm service and product marketplace firm and was founded by Shashank Kumar and Amrinder Singh in 2012. It provides agricultural services like economic agrarian inputs such as seeds and fertilizers, one-to-one guidance, soil testing, weather reports, microfinance, and insurance.
NASSCOM, Forbes, ET, Niti Aayog, and the Bill Gates Foundation have admired and applauded the impact DeHaat has made on Indian farmers.
It got the latest funding of $115 million and clocked a revenue of 358 crores in FY21 with a valuation of $500 million as per Entrackr. It also has an Android app with the same name and 850 different agribusinesses on its website. Currently roofing more than 650,000 farmers across Madhya Pradesh, UP, Odisha, West Bengal aim to reach 5 million farmers by 2024,
ABSOLUTE :
Absolute is a plant biotech company providing farmers with 40% increased revenue through their bioscience and innovations. It also supports phytology, microbiology, omics, molecular biology, epigenetics, and Artificial intelligence to control the agriculture on its farm.
Founded by Prateek Rawat in 2015, this startup serves 12 Indian states and has spread over 100,000 acres. The company also provides its services in more than 10 countries. According to Absolute, it is valued at $500 million and raised funding of $100 million.
Agrostar is a farm advisory firm, launched by siblings Shardul and Sitanshu Seth. It provides a platform for farmers to buy agricultural inputs online.
Agrostar is a leading agro startup that provides farmers with a broad variety of services. Their top services include agronomy guidance from Agri doctors/experts They networked with more than 5 lakh farmers on its Kisan helpline app across Maharashtra, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, and Uttar Pradesh.
As per Fintrackr's estimates, AgroStar has been valued at a little over $235 million.
ARYA.ag :
Arya brings forth the best agricultural warehousing services and online marketplace to connect farmers, suppliers, and buyers on a single platform.
The platform eliminates distress sales of farmers' produce by enabling farmgate storage and seamless finance options, giving freedom to farmers for their product, when, and whom to sell. With visibility into over 10.000 commodity storage points across the country. Arya assures year-round supply to SME and corporate buyers with embedded financing options.
According to Entrackr it has raised funding worth $60 million and registered a valuation of $285 million.
OTIPY :
This platform is holding consumers. resellers and farmers together to bring fresh fruits and vegetables to your doorstep. They are delivering farm fresh safe and hygienic products to the customers founded in 2020 by Varun Khurana and Prashant Jain.
The biggest plus for customers is that once the order is placed , only then items will be picked by the farm, delivered overnight and at customers’ doorstep by morning. The produce is not stocked or stored for long periods of time and harvested from the farm on order basis.
This firm recently raised funding worth $32 million and within 2 years have a valuation of $120 million.
FARMART :
FarMart is a B2B food supply platform working on a SaaS-based network. Founded by Alekh Sanghera and Mehtab Singh Hans in 2015, FarmMart's business model is centered around agri-input retailers and provides a solution for the challenges faced by the retailers' community.
It provides software as a service platform that enables retailers to digitize their work, increase sales and revenues to farmers and manage their business more efficiently. The startup also helps retailers acquire the product from farmers and sell directly to big enterprises through the FarMart platform, hence generating a new source of revenue for them.
Its business pivoted a few times since its inception, FarMart introduced a new line of business last year.
As Alekh Sanghera said in an interview " Our current annualized revenue run rate stands at $70 million with a 25-30% month on month growth". With the latest funding of $32 million, FarMart estimated valuation is around 136 crores, according to Entrackr.
Their SaaS-led approach has the way farmers and retailers carry out their businesses. FarMart says it has enrolled over 60,000 retailers and 2 million farmers in 600 districts and it aims to enroll 5 million farmers by 2024.
Reshamandi is a business-to-business startup marketplace for silk products.
They were founded in 2020 by Mayank Tiwari, a NIFT gold medalist, Saurabh Agarwal, former Cisco Systems technologist and entrepreneur, and Utkarsh Apoorva, a serial technology entrepreneur from IIT Delhi. It is now India's first and largest digital zone for the natural fiber supply chain.
Their business model is creating an impact at a grassroots level and helps in crop atomization by farmers, reelers, and weavers.
With a current valuation of $186 million, the firm recently received funding of $30 million in a series A financing round. With revenue of 20.5 crores in FY21, as per Entrackr, this startup is aiming high to becoming a creative and definitive fashion trend.
LOOPWORM :
Founded in 2019 by Ankit Bavaria and Abhi Gawri. This is a very unique agritech startup. It is transforming cultivated insects into value-added products such as nutrients and ingredients.
It also raised $3.4 million, invested by Titan Capital and Nadir Godrej. They are aiming to install their first Loop factory in north Bengaluru, hire talent and accelerate their R&D.