Rajeev
Many Indian agritech startups have been able to raise a whopping sum from investors across the globe. Cash flow will surely give them a solid boost to expand their business across the domestic landscape and accomplish other plans. They are having good times.
Vegrow in News
Vegrow is a B2B (Business-to-Business) fruit marketplace operated by Chifu Agritech Pvt Ltd. The private limited company has closed its Series C funding round and secured a huge amount through a mix of primary and secondary funding.
The Bengaluru-based startup has secured $46 Mn (around INR 383 Cr) from GIC, a Singapore-based company. GIC has entered India’s agri-tech space with its maiden bet. Lightspeed Venture Partners, Elevation Capital, Matrix Partners India and Prosus Ventures are the existing investors who participated in the round.
The Indian startup will now utilise the fresh funding to expand its reach across the domestic space and strengthen its global network.
The secondary round witnessed a complete exit of several angel investors that supported the startup. Investors like Titan Capital, Better Capital and Ankur Capital partially parted ways with them.
Vegrow was founded in 2020 by Shobhit Jain, Kiran Naik, Mrudhukar Batchu and Praneeth Kumar. The company provides a range of technology-related solutions including crop advisory, packaging, gardening, sales and logistics so that farmers can overcome challenges related to supply chain.
Batchu has said that the company’s objective is to offer valuable insights and maximise supply chain challenges by utilising data and technology. These will bring perishable inventory wastage to one fourth of average industry wastage, thereby helping to achieve the maximum profit margin in the industry.
Vegrow’s plan is to streamline the highly localised and fragmented fruit market that is mostly dominated by multiple intermediaries. According to a statement released on December 13, the company wants to leverage data and technology to optimise farmers’ income with precise grading of produce and efficient matches with the suitable demand channel.
They claim to have earned a five-fold spike in revenue and gained operational profitability over the last year.
The company secured $25 million funding from Prosus Ventures in Series B funding round in July last year. The objective was to go on a hiring spree across multiple positions, meet its expansion plan and build up its tech stack.
The latest development has given a boost to the company in a time when they are busy with multiple plans from expansion in the domestic market to finding a strong foothold on the global networking system.
In India, traditional farming largely depends on archaic tools and gets heavily affected by whimsical weather. The startup is trying to revolutionise the farming ecosystem by leveraging the power of technology. Their plans have invited attention from corporates and investors alike.
Recent Fund Flow for Other Agitech Startups
In its Series B funding round, agitech startup Ergos raised $10 million through debt and equity in September. Norway-based Abler Nordic as well as existing investors Trifecta Venture Debt Fund, Chiratae Ventures and Aavishkaar Capital led the round.
In September, full-stack agitech startup Leads Connect secured $62.5 million (INR 500) from FMCG major BL Agro Industries that is highly expected to continue funding over three years, which will eventually result in their getting a controlling stake in the startup.
According to Inc42 data, Indian agitech startups have raised $2.1 billion from 2014 to May 2023.
