A Bengaluru-based B2B agritech startup Agrizy has successfully raised $9.8 Mn (INR 82 Cr) in a Series A funding round which is co-led by Accion and omnivore.
Capria Ventures, Thai Wah Ventures and existing investor Ankur Capital also participated in the round.
Agrizy is planning to use the fresh new funds in various new products and regions, it also plans to launch contract manufacturing and advisory services, and offer financial services to MSME processors and farmer producer organizations (FPOs).
Vicky Dodani and Saket Chirania founded it in 2021, and it aims to join the processed agri supply chain by connecting agri suppliers, processors, and buyers of agricultural products across food and non-food categories.
The startup offers a digital marketplace for agri-products, custom sourcing of agri-food products for buyers, demand aggregation for small processors, and working capital support through partnerships with NBFCs. More than this it also offers networking, logistics, warehousing services and automates payment cycles.
Dodani said, “Agrizy aims to make India a global food processing center by helping FPOs and MSME agri-processors reach export markets and meet global quality standards. It will also provide these stakeholders working capital from formal financial institutions.”
In April 2022, in a seed funding round led by Ankur Capital, Agrizy raised $4 Mn and a $5 Mn debt funding from SBI, Yes Bank, Vivriti Capital, and other financial institutions, last year Krishnan Neelakantan, Managing Partner, Ankur Capital, said.
Krishnan Neelakantan, managing partner, of Ankur Capital, said, “As an early investor, working closely with Agrizy, we have been impressed with the team’s ability to establish market fit and scale their business over the last two years. The company also demonstrates superior metrics on margins and capital efficiency. “
In India the agricultural sector accounts for nearly 16% of the country’s gross domestic product (GDP) and employs nearly 44% of the national workforce.
While in India the agricultural sector is still run by old-age practices and obsolete technology, homegrown agric tech startups are trying to transform the Indian agricultural landscape, by offering innovative digital solutions from providing weather-based crop advisory to soil analysis and from promoting IoT-enabled practices to the latest AI- technology.
This fast-growing agricultural sector is expected to become a $24 Bn opportunity by 2025.
According to the Economic Survey 2022-23, there are more than 1,000 agritech startups in Indi. Some of the notable startups in this industry include AgroStar, Fasal, CropIn, Dehaat, Ergos, KisanKonnect, Ninjacart, Waycool, FarMart, and Gramophone.
