The agricultural sector plays an important role in the Indian economy. Around 60% of the Indian population is engaged in agriculture, contributing about 18% of the country’s GDP. However, farming in India is not as easy as it may seem with various problems like irregular climate cycles, poor irrigation facilities, poor adoption of mechanization, and lack of technology usage. To solve this problem, our country in the past decade or so has seen the rise of various agritech startups. One of these startups has an exciting story behind its foundation. Two engineer friends once had a failed attempt at growing colored capsicum. They knew the science of the capsicum growing small in size and full of spots. But something was for sure going wrong
This led to the duo leaving their corporate jobs and launching Fasal – a full-stack agritech solution provider in 2018. The firm headquartered in Bengaluru focuses on the collection of data from various sources and then analyzed by a team including agronomists and plant pathologists. It then leverages technology to provide crop-stage-specific insights to farmers.
Recent In News
Operating in the Agritech space, Fasal raised about $12 million in Series A round led by TDK Ventures and British International Investment (BII). The deal was announced in December last year.
First Traction
The B2B firm received its first funding on 5 April 2018. It was done in the seed round and the amount invested was $120K. The investment was led by Zeroth AI.
Year-over-Year Analysis
In 2020, the firm had a valuation of $7.1M as of May. The total revenue generated by the company in FY20 was ₹39.1L. The Bengaluru-based startup had raised $2.058M by then. It reported a net loss of ₹167.9L in this year.
For the next financial year, the valuation reached $10.3M as of August. The gross revenue surged to ₹152.4L from ₹39.1L in FY19-20. The observed growth rate stood at 289%. The net losses grew to ₹406.9L in this year from ₹167.9L in 2020. The firm managed to raise another $90K in a single funding round this year.
As of FY22, the overall revenue rose to ₹545.8L in this financial cycle. The observed growth rate was 258%. The startup raised $4.25M funding this year totaling its overall funding to $6.418M. The net loss recorded by the company was ₹1,323L. The firm was valued at $14.2M in FY21-22.
In FY22-23, the total revenue skyrocketed to ₹1,876.3L from ₹545.8L in the previous fiscal year. The valuation stood at $34M as of February. The B2B-modelled startup had raised $19.4M by this year. A net loss of ₹3,291.6L was reported by the company.
For the next fiscal year, the valuation stands at $42.5M as of January. The firm didn’t record any funding this year. The agritech startup has yet to report its financial record officially for FY24.
Expansion
With the strategic infusion of around $120K money in the latest funding round the company focuses on enhancing its proprietary farm Internet of Things (IoT) crop intelligence technology. The firm is set to expand and diversify its B2B brand, Fasal Fresh, procuring sustainably grown, fully traceable, and high-quality produce from its extensive network of growers, covering over 75,000 acres of farmland enabled by Fasal’s cutting-edge technology.
Competitors
The agritech firm faces fierce competition from its alternatives in the market which include Carnot, Satyukt, LeadsConnect, Yuktix, Inventohack. Fasal currently has a market share of 21%.
