Digital Agriculture in LMICs - 4 Jul #21
Omnivore launches its largest agritech fund for India and Southeast Asia at $150 M, FAO presents early findings of Digital Villages Initiative in Africa
27/06/23
FAO presents country assessments of Digital Villages Initiative in Africa
FAO has published the first in a series of reports presenting findings from country assessments of its Digital Villages Initiative (DVI) in Africa. The DVI aims to combat hunger, poverty, and inequality by fostering digital rural transformation. This is being carried out either by establishing or supporting 1,000 smart rural villages supplied with digital services needed for agrifood systems and rural transformation to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). This report is an output of preliminary activities carried out by the DVI in nine pilot African countries: Ghana, Kenya, Liberia, Malawi, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Somalia, and Zimbabwe. Among the cross-cutting findings from DVI pilots, the report highlights the need to establish synergies local development priorities, the need for digital agriculture awareness and capacity building in local communities, and the importance of strengthening engagements with rural youth and women.
28/06/23
Omnivore announces $150 M agritech and climate sustainability fund
Venture capital firm Omnivore has announced the first close at USD 150 million of its Agritech & Climate Sustainability Fund. The Fund aims to catalyse climate action in agriculture by investing in 25-30 Seed and Series A agritech startups and MSMEs, with ticket sizes ranging between USD 1 and 5 million. The Fund, the third in Omnivore’s history, has beaten its target of USD 130m becoming the largest one by the VC.
First close investors comprise International Finance Corporation (IFC), Germany’s Development Bank KfW, Dutch Entrepreneurial Development Bank FMO, the Self Reliant India - SRI Fund, and the Swiss Investment Fund for Emerging Markets (SIFEM). Additional support came in from Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and Yara Growth Ventures, the corporate venture capital arm of crop nutrition company Yara International. Established in 2011, Omnivore funds agritech and foodtech startups in India and Southeast Asia. It has to date backed 40+ startups including DeHaat, Arya.ag and Aquaconnect
28/06/23
Vietnam’s agri e-commerce FoodMap raises $1 million
Vietnam’s agri e-commerce FoodMap has raised USD 1 million in a bridge round to support expansion into new markets. Vulpes Investment Management, Beenext and Wavemaker Partners, all organisations already supporting FoodMap, participated in this round. FoodMap connects farmers and food producers with B2B and B2C consumers. The start-up, which to date has worked with 300+ farmers, has created its own internal traceability system. Established in 2017, last year FoodMap raised USD 3 million in a pre-Series A round. It has to date raised USD 4.5 million. This is the third agritech deal in Vietnam for 2023. In February, Koina raised USD 1 million for its Farmer Platform bundling financial and advisory services, while in April aquatech Tepbac raised USD 2.25 million.
In other news…
26/06/23
WeHubit’s annual report outlines ENABEL’s digital agriculture work in Africa
The Wehubit programme, an initiative supported by the Belgian Development Agency Enabel with the contribution of the European Union, has published its annual report for 2022. Wehubit funds digital agriculture projects that support climate smart agriculture in six African countries: Benin, Burkina Faso, Mali, Niger, Senegal, and Tanzania. Partnerships with governments and a focus on pastoralism (projects funded in Mali, Niger, and Tanzania) are key features of Wehubit’s approach.
Examples of digital agriculture projects included in the programme are SIT Sahel Lafia, a digital information system for transhumance relief in Burkina Faso, CajùLab, a drone-assisted land mapping solution for climate smart cashew production in Benin, and DAS4CSA, a digital advisory service for climate smart agriculture in Senegal. Established in 2018, Wehubit is currently finanlising 27 projects, in partnership with 50 organisations, who are part of its Knowledge Exchange Network (KEN). Wehubit will organise a final closing event of its first programme in September 2023 with a view to launch the next programme in October 2023.
30/06/23
Agri value chain digitalisation a key driver for mobile money in Ethiopia, says GSMA
In a new report, the GSMA, the global association of the mobile industry, has identified digital agriculture payments as an opportunity to drive mobile money adoption in Ethiopia, as the country is opening up to non-banks providers. The study highlights the need to drive mobile money growth in rural areas by targeting services to 67% of Ethiopia’s population depending on agriculture for their livelihoods. A primary opportunity is the digitalisation of G2P payments for agri subsidies and B2P payments for the sale of crops from farmers to agribusinesses. GSMA outlines the importance of the coffee value chain, which makes for 25 -35% of the foreign exchange earnings and contributes 5% to the country’s GDP. The study continues to highlight examples of digitisation of agribusiness to farmer payments in agriculture, such as the GSMA-supported M-Kulima project by mobile operator Vodacom in Tanzania.
One that we missed…
13/06/23
India’s Satyukt Analytics bags 1.2 million for data driven digital ag services
Indian agritech start-up Satyukt Analytics has secured USD 1.2 million in a pre-series A funding round from local venture growth equity fund Nabventures. Founded in 2018, the start-up leverages satellite data and machine learning to provide Software-as-a-service (SaaS) solutions to farmers, including digital advisory and agri digital financial services (Agri DFS). The funding will help Satyukt Analytics expand its two core products, the Sat2farm app providing farmers with data-driven insights, and the Sat2credit app, which enables financial service providers (FSPs) to evaluate farmers’ creditworthiness and credit risk. In addition, the agritech is planning to launch two new products targeting agri input companies (Sat4agri) and insurance companies (Sat4risk). Nabventures is backed by India’s National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD).