Agritech startup Grow Indigo has reportedly raised $8 Mn (around INR 67 Cr) as part of a strategic funding round that saw participation from stakeholders Indigo Ag and Mahyco (Maharashtra Hybrid Seeds Co).
As per news agency PTI, the round also saw participation from a clutch of angel investors. With this, the startup has raised $23 Mn till date.
Without specifying what the fresh proceeds will be utilised for, the company claimed that the capital will be deployed to drive the future of sustainable agriculture.
“With sustainability at its core, we have now demonstrated adoption of biological inputs and carbon solutions at scale by farmers,” said Grow Indigo’s executive chairman Usha Barwale Zehr.
This comes more than a year after Grow Indigo raised $6 Mn funding from Indigo Ag, Mahyco and other high-net-worth individuals (HNIs) in December 2022.
Founded in 2018 as a joint venture between Indigo Ag and Mahyco, Grow Indigo operates an agri-marketplace that connects retailers and farmer producer organisations (FPOs) with agri brands. It also offers carbon farming for small farmers and sells other biological products.
The Mumbai-based agritech claims to have so far catered to more than 1 Cr farmers and more than 1 Lakh retailers and FPOs. With more than 8 Lakh acres of land already enrolled under the company’s carbon farming programme, it aims to scale the number to 35 Lakh acres in the next two years.
Grow Indigo currently claims to operate in 12 Indian states and has a team of 200 employees spanning agronomists, data scientists, and researchers.
The development comes at a time when Indian agritech startups are witnessing a renewed interest from investors. Despite being the backbone of the country’s economy, Indian agriculture is still plagued by archaic practices and lower yields.
It is this gap that Indian agritech players want to fill by deploying technology to address these pain points. As a result, funding raised by these startups has seen a major spurt in the past few years.
As many as 10 funds announced in 2023 for Indian startups were specifically focussed on the agritech sector. The space is populated by the likes of CropIn, Waycool, and DeHaat.
However, the space has not been left untouched by the funding winter. As per Inc42 data, Indian agritech startups raised more than $208 Mn in 2023 against $817 Mn raised in 2022.
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