March 14, 2019

Bertelsmann India Investments, the India-focused investment arm of German media giant Bertelsmann, has led a $27 million Series C for AgroStar, a Pune-based agtech solutions platform. Existing investors who also participated in the round include Accel, Chirate Ventures, and Aavishkaar Bharat Fund.

This round follows a $10 million Series B raised by the company in March 2017, that was led by Accel.  That round also included IDG Ventures and Aavishkaar Venture Management.

“We feel privileged to join a journey that has the potential to have a deep positive impact at grassroot levels while building a large and valuable business,” said Pankaj Makkar, managing director at Bertelsmann India Investments.

Founded in 2013 in Pune by brothers Shardul and Sitanshu Sheth, AgroStar has built its platform to answer some of the widest challenges for India’s 135 million farmers, including lack of agronomy advice, adulteration, yield gaps, and high cost of production.

Using real-time data and interactive voice-response-based (IVR) service, AgroStar has positioned itself as a “one-stop solution” touching upon the entire agricultural supply chain, offering agronomy tools including diagnosis imagery technology, disease diagnostic services, educational content, and a retail platform through which farmers can purchase inputs.

“Our agri input-focussed commerce platform and tech enabled agronomy solutions are addressing key challenges faced by the Indian farmer and making farming more profitable and sustainable for them,” said Shardul Sheth, co-founder and CEO, AgroStar.

Currently operating in Gujarat, Maharashtra, and Rajasthan, and with 400,000 active users per month, AgroStar is looking to use the capital raised through this round to expand its footprint across India. And as smartphone penetration is reaching farther into the rural regions of the country, AgroStar is planning to invest in its data science technologies and platform, and to build out its leadership team with the addition of experienced agricultural industry leaders.

“We have achieved more than a million downloads and wish to scale it up to 10 million beneficiaries within the next two to three years,” said Sheth. “We will use the fresh funds to expand our network in new geographies as well.”

Total funding for agtech startups in India reached US$66.6 million in 2018,  according to data from Inc42 DataLabs. The increase in capital allocation is indicative of greater investor confidence.

In June 2018 Belgian investment manager Incofin launched the India Progress Fund – an $80 million fund solely dedicated to investments in India’s food and agriculture sectors.

Other recent notable agtech investment rounds for Indian companies include an $8 million Series B raised by CropIn Technology Solutions in November 2018 from Chiratae Ventures (formerly IDG Ventures India) and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Investment Fund; and a $2 million Seed round raised by Bengaluru-based robotics platform TartanSense, led by Omnivore Partners, Blume Ventures, and BEENEXT.

Other players in India’s robotics space include tech entrepreneur turned farmer Manohar Sambandam, who is behind Green Robot, a robotics platform, also based in Bengaluru, for the harvesting of cotton; and Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd.’s farm equipment division which has partnered with Virginia Tech on the development of a robot for the harvesting of table grapes.

-Lynda Kiernan