India has the world's second-largest agricultural land, with agriculture providing a living for over 60% of rural Indian households. Despite its significance, the industry continues to face a number of challenges, including the usage of antiquated equipment, inadequate infrastructure, and farmers who are unable to easily access a wide range of markets and only make marginal earnings on crop sales.
Agritech startups are attempting to deliver information to the agricultural community, enhance farming methods, and assist farmers in becoming more efficient in order to better their livelihood and overcome these difficulties.
By 2025, the Indian agritech sector might be worth $24 billion. According to a 2019 NASSCOM research, India is home to over 450 agritech businesses, which are expanding at a pace of 25% year on year. These firms are increasingly using data-driven solutions to empower 150 million farmers.
We have highlighted five such startups that aspire to provide advanced solutions to farmers:
Farmkart
Atul Patidar founded Farmkart in 2017 with the goal of making agricultural inputs more affordable and accessible to farmers. Farmkart, established in Barwani, is an ecommerce portal that allows farmers to buy contemporary agricultural products such as fertilisers, herbicides, and seeds at low costs.
Through its rent4farm services, the firm also allows farmers to rent agricultural equipment ranging from a sickle to a cultivator from certified suppliers.
Atul asserts Farmkart can deliver merchandise to rural and distant locations, including those not yet covered by India's ecommerce giants, within 24-36 hours.
Farmkart was named one of the Top 50 Global Innovative Startups by Startup Grind, powered by Google for Entrepreneurs, in 2018. Prime Minister Narendra Modi also acknowledged and praised the startup in the 70th edition of 'Mann Ki Baat.'
Farmkart, in addition to offering ecommerce services, also provides farmers with end-to-end consultancy to assist them understand how they can employ technology to better their produce. Farmers, according to the founder, may call the official number and get guidance from agronomists.
According to Atul, the business has collected Rs.15 crore in early capital from undisclosed investors and is now aiming to attract Series funds next year.
AgriVijay
AgriVijay, founded in 2020 by Vimal Panjwani with his mother and former government officer Shobha Chanchlani, provides farmers and rural people with a wide selection of renewable energy equipment that is adapted to their needs and infrastructure setup.
The Pune-based startup is an aggregator, offering a variety of goods such as biogas generators, solar-powered water pumps, solar energy converters, and solar water heaters to meet clients' individual energy demands.
The startup primarily sells via its website, call center, and social media platforms. Farmers may also purchase the products via the startup's village-based offline storefronts. The cost of solar and biogas energy equipment ranges between Rs.9000 to Rs.35000.
Rise Hydroponics
Rise Hydroponics, founded in April 2020 by Tusshar Aggarwal, Meet Patel, and Vivek Shukla, provides end-to-end soil-less farming solutions and is active in the development of both outdoor and indoor hydroponic farm projects.
The Ahmedabad-based agritech startup claims to have constructed a 12,000+ sqft commercial hydroponics farm in Bhiwandi, which is set to open soon. In addition, it has constructed an indoor vertical hydroponics farm in Worli, Mumbai.
Rise Hydroponics claims to have finished more than 20 projects in 13 cities, including Ahmedabad, Vadodara, Surat, Gurugram, and Jamnagar.
Agrifeeder
Agrifeeder, founded in 2017 by Rounak Kumar, Raman Kumar, and Priya Pandey, empowers farmers by educating them on new technology and agricultural practices, as well as offering high-quality seeds and fertilizers for pre-harvest marketing and post-harvest management.
Agrifeeder assists farmers in five areas: storage facilities, grain and fertiliser purchases, farming training and help organic farming implementation, and financial aid.
The Bihar-based firm educates farmers on farming techniques, the proper use of pesticides and fertilizers to increase yield, and the pricing of food. It also teaches farmers how to make their own organic fertilizers and encourages them to practice organic farming.
It raised seed fund from the Government of Bihar in January of this year as part of the Startup Bihar Policy. Agrifeeder is now working with 80 farmers in Bihar.
Saptkrish
Saptkrishi, an agritech firm located in Bhagalpur, has created Sabjikothi or Preservator, a wheel-mounted, microclimate-based storage solution that is cost-effective, portable, and increases the shelf life of fruits and vegetables from three to 30 days.
Saptkrishi, founded in 2019 by Nikky Kumar Jha and his sister Rashmi Jha, is now being advanced at IIT-Kanpur. It was previously incubated at IIT-Patna and has conducted paid pilot trials with the Indian government, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, and consulting firm Microsave.
According to Nikky, the USP is that it is a zero-chemical, non-cooling, and entirely green technology that costs Rs.10000. "It is a worthwhile one-time investment that will last for several harvest seasons." "It boosts the ROI for farmers and traders while also opening up new opportunities and larger marketplaces," he says.
The siblings raised Rs.10 lakh in research and development funds through Nidhi Prayas with IIT-Kanpur, which would be distributed in various tranches. They also obtained a similar grant from IIT-Patna. Sabjikothi has received a pre-seed round of Rs.15 lakh from Invent and Villgro, as well as many undisclosed awards and incentives.
