Agritech Startup Nu Genes Raises $6 Mn To Take Seed Biz Global

Telangana-based agritech startup Nu Genes, on Monday (December 23), announced that it has raised $6 Mn from Innovation in Food and Agriculture (IFA) Fund managed by Sathguru Catalyzer Advisors.

With the recently raised funds, Nu Genes will expand its presence and will take its agriculture-based product offerings to an international level.

Founded in 2004 by Narayana Reddy Punyala, Nu Genes produces seeds that are specifically suited for the tropical agriculture environment. The seeds offered by Nu Genes have stress tolerance, which is focused on climate change adaptation in Asia and other tropical regions. It offers seed products in cereal, vegetable and grain crops.

Moreover, Nu Genes is researching in crops such as pearl millet, maize, sorghum, and paddy in field crops. The startup is also carrying its research in vegetable crops such as tomato, chilli, okra, bitter gourd, bottle gourd, and watermelon.

Krishna Kumar, chairman of Sathguru Catalysers, said that the company’s focus behind the investment is to address the future needs of the farmers in adapting to climate change. “With this investment in Nu Genes, we have also focused on providing seed traits that can be adopted in dry land and humid tropical farms with potential to provide nutrition to needy communities,” he added.

Sponsored by Sathguru Management Consultants, Innovation in Food and Agriculture Fund is one of the agritech focussed funds in India. The fund invests in innovation-driven startups with the potential to revolutionise agriculture and market-ready food products.

Prior to this investment, Innovation in Food and Agriculture Fund has invested over $4 Mn in Telangana-based early-stage life sciences startup Telluris Biotech India Private Limited.

According to Inc42 DataLabs, agritech startups in India raised around $66.6 Mn (INR 463 Cr) in 2018. The same report also highlighted that the total funding in the agritech space was $46.1 Mn (INR 320 Cr) in 2017. Some of the companies in the agritech sector include Bijak, Ninjacart, Vegfru, Lemon Leaf, DayBox, Crofarm, WayCool CropIn, Fasal and Kamatan Farm tech.

Recently, Bijak has raised around $2.5 Mn in a seed round from investment firms Omnivore and Omidyar Network India, and Sequoia Capital India’s accelerator programme Surge.

Moreover, Ninjacart has entered into a partnership with Walmart and Flipkart. Ninjacart works in the supply chain startup working in India’s fresh produce industry to connect farmers with retailers and businesses in the hotels, restaurants and cafes (HoReCa) industry.