Delhi-based Arya, which provides grain storage and loans to smallholders, is fintech investor Quona Capital’s second ag finance deal.
The Guangzhou-based startup offers UAVs for fertilizer and pesticide application, remote sensing, and seeding – and has also branched out into ground-based robots, cameras, and sensors.
The funding will enable the Indian startup to take its rapid soil testing kit and analytics services to the country’s 130 million smallholder farmers.
The UN Development Program’s Armen Harutyunyan was speaking at NURTURE, a new series of events presented by AgFunder-backed impact accelerator GROW.
India will be home to more than 1.4 billion people by 2030. Unlike consumers in Europe and the US, they’ll be looking to eat more meat – not less.
Israel’s SupPlant and US-based ClimaCell have joined forces to make precision ag insights more accessible to low-income farmers in emerging markets.
The Bengaluru-based startup provides a platform for smallholders to purchase inputs, secure credit, and engage data-led advisory services.
The Singapore-based startup has developed an “essentially 100% mechanical” process to improve upon traditional jackfruit-based meat substitutes.
Moving towards more climate-resilient agriculture and food production was already imperative for India. The Covid-19 pandemic has made it even more urgent.
Arkam Ventures led the pre-Series A investment in Jai Kisan, which wants to increase Indian farmers’ access to financial services – and lenders’ access to farmers.
Agrocorp, which recently made a groundbreaking $12m blockchain wheat trade, will use the funds to “ensure a continuous flow of food from farmers to end-consumers.”
The collaboration brings private-sector tech players into the mix to extend the scope of the NGO’s contract farming program for rice-growing smallholders.
Dutch company VanderSat’s technology is kind of out of this world; measuring and mapping the soil’s moisture from a constellation of satellites in space using “passive microwave” technology, accompanied by a lot of complex mathematics to make sense of the data.
The region’s smallholders are increasingly active users of mobile tech, according to a new study – but adoption of solutions developed specifically for them remains low.
Here’s a list of the top 20 deals in the Agribusiness Marketplace category. Six involved Chinese companies. Indian and Japanese startups also closed big rounds.
Brazil’s small farmers are worth an estimated $20bn in crop protection buying power but most ag retailers cater to larger commodity-focused operations.
Kisan Network has closed a $3 million round led by Atsushi Taira at Mistletoe, with participation from Y Combinator, the Thiel Foundation, Venture Highway, FundersClub, Lynett Capital, Gokul Rajaram, and other angels.
A former butcher with a background in software is helping big food companies change the way they’re thinking about achieving regenerative food at scale.
TechnifyBiz, a digital B2B marketplace for non-perishable food commodities like nuts, seeds, dry fruits, specialty grains, and honey, has raised $2m in seed funding from Omnivore and the Insitor Impact Asia Fund.
Naturama Aragau is an information campaign aimed at helping consumers and farmers learn more about regenerative food production in Switzerland.
Smoke & mirrors, not worth the extra cost: 50 US farmers speak out on carbon markets