SUMMARY
FarMart helps farmers source agricultural inputs, and helps large enterprises source produce from farmers
The new round gave an exit to early investors India Angel Network and LetsVenture
The startup has a network of 15,000 agri-input retailers and 750,000 farmers who have shipped over 30,000 tonnes of produce on the platform
B2B agritech startup FarMart has raised $10 Mn in a Series A funding round led by Matrix Partners India. Innoven Capital and existing investors Omidyar Network India, Avaana Capital, and 500 Startups also participated in the round with a few angel investors.
Angel investors including Amit Lakhotia (Founder, Park+), Jitendra Gupta (Founder & CEO, Jupiter), KP Balaraj (Ex-founder, WestBridge Capital and Sequoia Capital India), OfBusiness Founder’s Fund, Revant Bhate and Dhyanesh Shah (cofounders, Mosaic Wellness) also participated in the round.
This also gave an exit to early investors Indian Angel Network and LetsVenture.
The funds raised will be used to expand FarMart’s distribution network across the country and scale the team and product capabilities. Earlier, the startup had raised $2.4 Mn in its Pre Series A round led by Omidyar Network India and Avaana Capital.
Founded in 2016 by Alekh Sanghera and Mehtab Singh Hans, FarMart operates a micro SaaS-led agritech platform that helps large food businesses source quality produce by using its network of agri-retailers. The startup aims to ‘streamline the value chain’ by giving farmers access to information, market linkages and input.
FarMart’s process begins with a micro SaaS platform that helps agri-input retailers digitise their workflow and increase sales to farmers. End buyers who use FarMart’s platform can directly source produce from farmers and retailers instead of paying various intermediaries.
Since the launch of the market linkage program, the startup has scaled its network to over 15,000 agri-input retailers and 750,000 farmers who have shipped over 30,000 tonnes of produce on the platform.
It also boasts of more than 100 B2B buyers, including ITC, Olam and Cargill. The company relies on its asset-light and low-capital working model to achieve this kind of growth.
According to Inc42 Plus, India’s addressable agritech market potential is expected to reach $24.1 Bn by 2025. Indian startups have tapped into only $204 Mn, or 1% in 2020. In September this year, another agritech startup BharatAgri had raised $6.5 Mn in a Series A round led by Omnivore.
