Info Edge Increases Stake In Agritech Startup Gramophone With INR 9 Cr Investment

SUMMARY

Following this investment, Info Edge will own 32.89% stake in Gramophone on a fully converted and diluted basis

Last year, Gramophone raised $10 Mn in its Series B round from Z3 Partners, Info Edge, among others

Gramophone is a full stack agritech platform which sells agri inputs, provides warehousing, inventory management services, among others

Delhi NCR-based internet company Info Edge on Tuesday (January 24) said it has increased its stake in Indore-based agritech startup Gramophone with a fresh round of investment.

In an exchange filing, Sanjeev Bikchandani-led Info Edge said that it will invest INR 9.3 Cr ($1.1 Mn) in Agstack Technologies Private Ltd, the parent company of Gramophone, through its wholly-owned subsidiary Startup Investments (Holdings) Ltd. Gramophone will allot 10,315 compulsory convertible cumulative preference shares to Startup Investments (Holdings) Ltd.

Post this investment, Info Edge will own 32.89% stake in Gramophone on a fully converted and diluted basis. The development comes more than a year after the startup raised $10 Mn in its Series B funding round led by Z3 Partners. The round also saw participation from existing investors Info Edge, Asha Impact, and Siana Capital.

Gramophone, founded in 2016 by Tauseef Khan, Nishant Vats, and Harshit Gupta, is a full stack agritech platform for farmers. It sells agri inputs like seeds, fertilisers, nutrients, pesticides, farming equipment, among others. It also provides standalone services such as warehousing, inventory management and call centres.

Apart from offering a mobile-based commerce marketplace, the startup also helps farmers with crop advisory and weather information. It provides agronomic intelligence and solutions to farmers by using image recognition, soil science, smart crop selection and personalised information led cropping systems.

The startup has raised $18 Mn across multiple rounds till date. It first raised Series A funding of $3.5 Mn in 2019 from Info Edge.

Info Edge, which is also an investor in listed startups Zomato and Delhivery, invests in early-stage startups and is known for increasing its stake in these startups in the subsequent funding rounds. For instance, Info Edge recently acquired a majority stake in Coding Ninjas, a startup it backed in its early stages, for INR 135 Cr ($16.5 Mn)

Info Edge, which earned a return of 1050X on its investment of INR 4.5 Cr in Zomato, is one of the most active investors in the Indian startup ecosystem. The Naurki.com owner invests in early-stage, tech-enabled startups across sectors like foodtech, insuretech, Web3, healthtech, fintech, edtech, agritech, and retailtech.

As per Inc42’s data, InfoEdge and its investment arm participated in 24 funding deals in the Indian startup ecosystem in 2022. Some of their notable investments were in startups such as Policybazaar, Shiprocket, and DotPe.