Data Snapshot is a regular AFN feature in which we analyze agrifoodtech market investment data provided by our parent company, AgFunder.
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Agribusiness Marketplaces and Fintech was the most-funded upstream category for India agrifoodtech in 2022. Startups in this area, including including DeHaat, Waycool, and Captain Fresh, raised $428 million in 2022, according to AgFunder’s India AgriFoodTech Investment Report 2023 created in partnership with VC firm Omnivore.
The number is a marked increase from 2021, and the category as a whole was the most active of all AgFunder-defined categories in 2022, closing 32 deals over the year.
The popularity of Agribusiness Marketplaces and Fintech isn’t surprising, given the need to fix India’s hyper-fragmented agricultural ecosystem, including its supply chain. 
India’s continued leadership in agribusiness marketplaces
Home to 17.7% of the world’s population, India faces an enormous task when it comes to food security in the face of climate change. More than 80% of Indians live in climate-vulnerable districts. By 2030, over 17 million people in India can potentially go hungry due to climate change-induced hunger.
Supply chain inefficiencies could exacerbate these problems, which is likely one of the reasons India has long been a leader in advancing agribusiness marketplaces.
Many of these marketplaces connect farmers with inputs, equipment and other supplies needed for their farms. Some have also evolved to include financial services, logistics planning and access to buyer markets.
Top India deals for 2022
Full-stack agricultural platform DeHaat raised the most funding for the category in 2022 across two rounds totaling $106 million. DeHaat is one of the fastest-growing startups in the sector and services millions of farmers and thousands of agribusinesses across the country. [Disclosure: AgFunder and Omnivore are both investors in DeHaat.]
Other notable deals for agribusiness marketplaces include Captain Fresh, which raised $50 million for its farm-to-retail platform for animal protein, and B2B e-commerce market ShopKirana.
tIn 2022, as technology adoption spread in the ecosystem, startups began solving legacy challenges, chief among them being access to affordable formal finance. Fintechs and neo-banks such as Ayekart and Jai Kisan are tailoring products for various stakeholders to fortify livelihoods and supply chains.
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