Agri-tech start-up AgroStar raises $70 million, eyes omnichannel growth
The funding round also saw participation from existing investors Aavishkaar Capital, Accel, Bertelsmann, Chiratae Ventures, and Rabo Frontier Ventures.
- Dec 7, 2021,
- Updated Dec 7, 2021 6:48 PM IST
Agri-tech start-up AgroStar on Tuesday said it has raised $70 million in a Series D funding round from private equity firm Evolvence, global asset management firm Schroders Capital, Hero Enterprises, and UK’s development finance institution CDC.
The funding round also saw participation from existing investors Aavishkaar Capital, Accel, Bertelsmann, Chiratae Ventures, and Rabo Frontier Ventures. The Raine Group was the exclusive advisor for the transaction.
Founded by Sitanshu Sheth and Shardul Sheth, AgroStar leverages data and technology to solve farmers' problems of access to good quality agri-inputs. It claims to be India's largest digital network of farmers and agri-inputs platform, serving over 5 million farmers across the states of Gujarat, Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, and Uttar Pradesh.
The start-up aims to bridge the knowledge gap in the $50-billion segment which faces challenges in access to latest inputs and high-quality products, leading to decline in productivity. AgroStar is addressing this gap and has built a multilingual content-led commerce platform for farmers. The platform says that it is seeing rapid growth, with its mobile app crossing the milestone of 5 million downloads.
Farmers use AgroStar app to read and watch agronomy content, post pictures of their crop problems to get advice, share and comment on posts by fellow farmers, for voice search to look for agri products, and transact on the platform.
"The platform has seen a 10X growth in video content consumption over the last year. Our platform is easy to use for the Indian farmer and adds real value on ground for them. We believe that this is just the beginning and foresee massive acceleration in digital adoption by 140 million plus Indian farmers over the next few years," said co-founder and COO Sitanshu Sheth.
AgroStar has also expanded its brand from being a content-driven, advisory and agri-inputs e-commerce platform to being an omnichannel platform with the rollout of AgroStar branded stores. These stores, located at block levels across multiple states, leverage AgroStar’s brand pull and content and information-led approach to serve farmers with additional touchpoints.
AgroStar has ramped up its brand stores from 50 to over 1,000 in the last one year.
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Agri-tech start-up AgroStar on Tuesday said it has raised $70 million in a Series D funding round from private equity firm Evolvence, global asset management firm Schroders Capital, Hero Enterprises, and UK’s development finance institution CDC.
The funding round also saw participation from existing investors Aavishkaar Capital, Accel, Bertelsmann, Chiratae Ventures, and Rabo Frontier Ventures. The Raine Group was the exclusive advisor for the transaction.
Founded by Sitanshu Sheth and Shardul Sheth, AgroStar leverages data and technology to solve farmers' problems of access to good quality agri-inputs. It claims to be India's largest digital network of farmers and agri-inputs platform, serving over 5 million farmers across the states of Gujarat, Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, and Uttar Pradesh.
The start-up aims to bridge the knowledge gap in the $50-billion segment which faces challenges in access to latest inputs and high-quality products, leading to decline in productivity. AgroStar is addressing this gap and has built a multilingual content-led commerce platform for farmers. The platform says that it is seeing rapid growth, with its mobile app crossing the milestone of 5 million downloads.
Farmers use AgroStar app to read and watch agronomy content, post pictures of their crop problems to get advice, share and comment on posts by fellow farmers, for voice search to look for agri products, and transact on the platform.
"The platform has seen a 10X growth in video content consumption over the last year. Our platform is easy to use for the Indian farmer and adds real value on ground for them. We believe that this is just the beginning and foresee massive acceleration in digital adoption by 140 million plus Indian farmers over the next few years," said co-founder and COO Sitanshu Sheth.
AgroStar has also expanded its brand from being a content-driven, advisory and agri-inputs e-commerce platform to being an omnichannel platform with the rollout of AgroStar branded stores. These stores, located at block levels across multiple states, leverage AgroStar’s brand pull and content and information-led approach to serve farmers with additional touchpoints.
AgroStar has ramped up its brand stores from 50 to over 1,000 in the last one year.
Also Read: Arya.ag introduces BNPL service for commodity purchase
Also Read: World Esports Cup (WEC) 2021: Here is the list of top teams to compete in the India Group stage