December 13, 2019

By Lynda Kiernan

India’s Ecozen has increased its Series A by $6 million through a second tranche backed by Sathguru Catalyer’s Innovation in Food and Agriculture Fund (IFA Fund) and Omnivore Partners. 

The startup raised an undisclosed amount anchoring  the Series A in July of this year from impact investor Caspian, the Hivos-Triodos Fund, and Omnivore Partners, which previously funded the startup in 2015, and returned to also participate in these subsequent rounds. 

Founded in Pune in 2009 by Devendra Gupta, Prateek Singhal, and Vivek Pandey, Ecozen began with a focus on irrigation and water conservancy with the development of a solar-powered irrigation pump. However, the scope of the company soon expanded to address challenges faced along the entire perishable food supply chain.

Today, the company is creating an impact at all stages of the chain through three platforms used by 25,000 farmers across India, Southeast Asia, and Africa:

The Ecotron – an irrigation tool that uses IoT, analytics, proprietary algorithms, and diagnostics to help farmers make informed irrigation decisions. 

The Ecofrost –  a solar powered, portable corn storage room with capacity for 5 metric tons and efficient thermal energy storage to provide backup of more than 30 hours for on-farm, post-harvest cooling and storing of perishable produce. Designed for areas with unreliable access to energy, the off-grid Ecofrost has a two-year breakeven period, and leads to increases in profits of more than 40 percent. 

The company has also launched Eco-Connect, a marketplace platform that serves to digitally link Ecofrost farmers growing perishables to exporters, retailers, and processors, offering market facilitation while also reducing food waste. This company reports that this platform has already grown to include 200 buyers and 75 active sellers, and is expected to experience further significant growth over the next year.

The company’s pursuit of innovation has resulted in revenue of Rs 69 Cr (US$10.2 million), and its winning the inaugural Rabobank Food Loss Challenge Asia in the fourth quarter of last year. At an event held in Singapore in November 2018, Ecozen also won both the Jury’s Prize of US$15,000 and the Audience’s Prize of US$5,000 awarded at Rabobank Asia’s Food & Agriculture Advisory Board meeting. 

“Ecozen has focused on using technology as a differentiator and has pioneered innovative products addressing market imperfections and catering to underserved segments of agriculture and food value chain,” said Vijayaraghavan Kannan, senior partner, IFA Fund. “Businesses with positive environmental externalities and livelihood impacts fits well with IFA investment philosophy.”

– Lynda Kiernan is Editor with GAI Media and daily contributor to the GAI News and Agtech Intel platforms. If you would like to submit a contribution for consideration, please contact Ms. Kiernan at lkiernan@globalaginvesting.com.