Indian early stage venture capital fund, Ankur Capital, has made an undisclosed investment in agricultural supply chain e-commerce technology platform, BigHaat.
Launched in 2015 by Sateesh Nukala, Sachin Nandwana, and Raj Kancham, Bangalore-based agtech startup BigHaat directly connects farmers to seed and agri-product suppliers, increasing transparency and competition while and reducing travel time for the farmer.
The company currently has partnered with brands including Monsanto, DuPont-Pioneer, Mahyco, Fito, Indu, BioSeed, Privi Life Sciences, Senimis, UPL, and Namdhari, but is also working to bring additional suppliers specializing in agro-chemicals, horticulture, and field crop specialty nutrients across India to bring their products onto the platform.
“We are excited about technology playing a key role in improving efficiency and transparency in agri-input distribution systems for farmers and are thrilled to back a great team at BigHaat,” said Rema Subramanian, co-founder and managing partner, Ankur Captial.
Ankur Capital is an early-stage venture capital firm focused on investing up to $1 million per investment in startups in the agriculture, fintech, healthcare, and education sectors that are in the process of developing both their technologies and their business.
Previous investments include commitments made to soil nutrition and conditioning company Suma Agro and Bangalore, India-based farm management software company CropIn Technology Solutions, which recently raised $2 million in Series A funding in an investment round led by Denmark-based Sophia Investment ApS.
Currently used on more than one million acres across five countries, with a 92 pecent customer retention across its product range, CropIn’s “SmartSales” and “MWarehouse” products allow for mobile management and tracking of storage and sales of agricultural products. The company’s “Crop Analytics” package allows for more sophisticated analysis and forecasting farm productivity through big data analytics.
The new funding, coupled with funding received earlier this year from U.S.-based Invested Development, will enhance the scalability of the company allowing it to enter new markets.
Scaling up is a common goal among startups in India as they strive to capitalize on the country’s massive market. Having already served 50,000 farmers across the country, BigHaat is India’s largest “Multi-brand agri e-store” connected to the country’s agri-input market valued at Rs 60,000 cr (US$9 billion). Although the biggest, there is still significant room for growth in the sector as even the biggest agricultural players in the country have found it difficult to connect directly with farmers due to a bloated distribution network.
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Lynda Kiernan