Agri-Fintech Startup Ayekart Raises $5.5 Mn In Debt & Equity To Fuel Growth

Agri-fintech startup Ayekart has raised $5.5 Mn in an equity and debt round from corporate lending financial company Caspian Debt and fintech platform Siply. It raised over $2.5 Mn in debt from Caspian Debt and over $2.8 Mn in equity funding from Siply

Ayekart will use the fresh funds to provide financial and technological assistance to traditional businesses in the food and agri sector for their growth. 

Ayekart, founded in December 2020, started its commercial rollout in September 2021. The platform aims to strengthen the traditional businesses and the agri-value chain through finance, tech, and supply chain management.

The startup claimed that it clocked INR 139.5 Cr in Gross Transaction Value (GTV) in FY22, and was PAT (profit after tax) positive. 

“Ayekart constantly thrives to enable the best of its services through finance, technology, and services for the betterment of FPOs, farmer communities and traditional businesses,” Ayekart CEO and cofounder Debarshi Duttam said.

The startup will use the funds to strengthen its ecosystem to meet the necessities of small and traditional vendors, dealers/distributors, farmer communities, millers, processors, distributors and retailers, he added.

Ayekart currently operates in 13 states across the country. It plans to foray into the export market by Q3 2022. It is working towards enabling 10 Mn traditional businesses technologically and financially. 

Besides, Ayekart is also looking to expand its services to 15 countries in the next five years. 

“Ayekart plays a significant role in providing new market avenues as well as payment assurance to the suppliers in the agri ecosystem. Their platform provides strength to the local ecosystem players (processors, distributors, and retailers) helping them to grow the business without affecting their margins thus creating a positive impact,” Avishek Gupta, managing director and CEO of Caspian Debt, said.

The Indian agritech ecosystem has seen rapid growth in the last few years. Indian agritech startups raised $2 Bn across 223 deals between 2014 and H1 2022, according to Inc42’s August 2022 report on ‘The State Of Indian Startup Ecosystem’. Of this, the agri-finance subsector raised $162 Mn.

A slew of agritech startups like Ninjacart, Agrowave, BigHaat, DeHaat are working to solve the problems of the agriculture sector in the country. Overall, the agritech sector in India is projected to grow to a $30 Bn-$35 Bn market by 2025, as per a Bain and Company report.