Data Snapshot: Agrifoodtech’s epicenter shifted farther east in H1 – but US still rules the roost
Global agrifoodtech funding is still dominated by the US – but a few massive deals in China, India, and other countries are stealing a greater share.
Global agrifoodtech funding is still dominated by the US – but a few massive deals in China, India, and other countries are stealing a greater share.
“Given we are operating in crops like palm, coffee, [and] pepper, we see the Southeast Asia region as a massive opportunity,” says co-founder Shailendra Tiwari.
The farm laws “were for the benefit of farmers, but we could not convince a section of them despite our best efforts,” said Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
It’s on a mission to help India’s 100 million dairy farmers and workers get access to formal banking and other financial services.
Swedish company Nick’s grabbed the biggest funding round of the week, while India’s cloud kitchen market grew and Twiga Foods got $50 million to expand across Africa.
Fabric raised $200 million for its fulfillment robotics platform, while farmer marketplace DeHaat scored India’s biggest-ever agtech round.
The Patna-based startup says it serves 650,000 smallholders and collaborates with 3,000 rural micro-entrepreneurs.
It links suppliers and buyers of fresh produce across the country, opening up more buy and sell opportunities while also facilitating timely payments.
The online-to-offline platform aims to insure 10 million Indian smallholders to the tune of $135 million over the next three years.
The Pune-based startup aims to grow its presence in North America and Europe, including the establishment of an R&D facility in the Netherlands.
The US tech giant also said it’s building “robust temperature-controlled supply chain infrastructure” to preserve food quality and reduce waste.
Founder and CEO Jaisimha Rao claims it’ll have “the world’s largest fleet of agriculture robots in the next 18 months.”
The startup will use the capital to cement its presence in India and expand its food quality assessment platform to the Middle East and Europe.
Zomato, which competes for the mantle of India’s top food delivery app with rival Swiggy, is reportedly valued at $12.2 billion post-IPO.
The Chennai-based startup will use the pre-Series A funds to strengthen its fintech offering, while also boosting the volume of seafood exports it handles.
It started out as a last-mile food delivery app in 2011 before branching out to become a ‘full stack’ logistics and fulfillment platform.
The Mumbai-based startup says it has handled rural business transactions worth over $385 million during the past year, financing more than 15% of them itself.
Zomato, which was founded in 2008, has raised a total of $2.1 billion to date from the likes of Ant Financial, Temasek, and Sequoia Capital.
Swiggy also secured investment from sovereign wealth funds Qatar Investment Authority and Singapore’s GIC, according to an internal memo.
“If I tell suppliers I have 25% of retailers on my platform, that’s a very solid proposition compared to 5% of farmers,” Agrim co-founder Mukul Garg tells AFN.