The post pandemic funding blitzkrieg that India’s fintech, ecommerce and healthtech startups have seen, is unprecedented. However, rewind a bit, to pre 2020 times, and you would realise how the agri-tech sector had been a hot favourite among investors. And even though some of that sheen has passed off, FarMart, an agri-tech upstart that aims to digitise India’s complex agri supply chain, has landed $32Mn in its Series B round.
The Agri-SaaS platform saw General Catalyst leading the Series B round, with participation from existing investors, Matrix Partners India and Omidyar Network India. FarMart would use this freshly infused capital to fuel growth of its digital distribution network across India and to export markets. The company also plans to make key investments into R&D, automation and technology.
“We have built a retailer-centric solution at the intersection of data, hyperlocal serviceability and underutilized assets.I would like to thank General Catalyst and our existing investors for providing us with the thrust to achieve our ambition of building the world’s first OS that powers food value chains.” says Alekh Sanghera, CEO and Cofounder, FarMart
FarMart is primarily a SaaS-led B2B food supply platform, with the central piece being its mobile app. The app enables agri-retailers to serve their farmers better by providing access to inputs, advisory, and market linkages. With farmers getting access to a much wider market, FarMart helps farmers build alternative food value chain that is transparent and financially rewarding for both farmers and businesses.
By digitizing and incentivizing the rural agri-retailer, FarMart says it has created a one-stop-hub for farmers to buy input and sell output in close proximity to their farms. This alternative, asset-light, food value chain eliminates the multiple transportation costs, spillages, and time effort involved for both the producer and the end-buyer.
The long term goal is to create an ‘operating system’ for the agriculture sector, bringing together all relevant stakeholders in the agriculture supply chain.
The Series B round comes just 6 months after FarMart’s $10M Series A in October 2021 and brings the total capital raised to $48M. The startup currently works with 60,000 retailers across 30 states, impacting over 2 million farmers.
