Digital Agriculture in LMICs - 17 Apr #11
New $40 million fund for climate and agritech announced, Farmerline launches in Cote d’Ivoire, Fashol in Bangladesh and INI Farms in India bag funding
05/04/23
Equator sets up $40 million fund, targets climate tech, agritech
Equator, a climate tech venture capital firm focused on Sub-Saharan Africa, has announced the initial close of its first fund with approximately USD 40 million in commitments to support seed and Series A stage tech-enabled ventures in the sectors of energy, agriculture and mobility. Equator is looking to invest in high-growth, ready-to-scale tech start-ups that ultimately address the impact of climate change on income inequality in Africa. The fund is backed by British International Investment (BII), the Global Energy Alliance for People and Planet (GEAPP), Shell Foundation and impact investor DOEN Participaties. Equator plans to make up to 15 investments through this fund, with ticket sizes in the range of USD 1-2 million for pre-seed stage and USD 2-4 million for Series A. Equator’s existing portfolio includes agritechs Apollo and SunCulture.
08/04/23
Farmerline launches in Cote d’Ivoire
Ghanaian agritech Farmerline has launched operations in Cote d’Ivoire. The start-up has been working in the country through partners since 2016. It will now offer services directly to Ivorian farmers including climate-smart farming advisory and quality inputs via an SMS short code (1349). Farmerline has also stated that it will enable greater access to international markets. The agritech has a B2B2C model, whereby it relies on partnerships in agricultural value chains with agribusinesses, cooperatives, farmer groups as well as government entities and NGOs to reach farmers. According to estimates, Cote d’Ivoire has 3+ million smallholder farmers. Last year, Farmerline announced a Pre-Series A investment of USD 14.4 million and used part of the funding to build a team in the country. Established in 2013, Farmerline has to date raised USD 15.3 million, according to Crunchbase.
13/04/23
Agritech Fashol raises $1 million pre-seed funding in Bangladesh
Bangladeshi agritech Fashol has raised USD 1 million in pre-seed funding from venture capital firm SOSV, post-accelerator growth platform South Asia Tech Partners, and a group of angel investors. Fashol optimises the agricultural value chain by enabling smallholder farmers to sell more directly to retailers via a digital platform. In addition, the start-up provides offline infrastructure such as distribution and processing centres, and collection hubs. As value added services, the company also provides to farmers agricultural advisory and telemedicine support. Established in 2020, Fashol works with a network of 10,000+ farmers and 5,000+ retailers.
12/04/23
India’s INI Farms bags $1.95 million from ESG First Fund
India’s agritech INI Farms, a subsidiary of AgroStar, has secured USD 1.95 million investment from the ESG First Fund managed by Aavishkaar Capital, one of the largest impact investors based out of India. Founded in 2009, INI Farms exports fruits and vegetables, linking farmers to international markets. The company digitises the supply chain leveraging Agrostar’s agronomy advisory center and a digital farmer network of 5+ million users. INI Farms states that it aims at 100% disintermediation and below 2% food wastage that happens due to supply chain delays. ESG First Fund is a USD 250 million fund set up in 2022 in partnership between Aavishkaar Capital and Germany’s KfW Development Bank.
In other news…
06/04/23
Dvara E-Registry and PANI to deploy digital ag platform in Uttar Pradesh
Indian agritech Dvara E-Registry, the provider of a mobile and web platform dubbed Doordrishti that digitises Farmer Producer Organisations (FPOs), has partnered with People's Action for National Integration (PANI), a voluntary organisation based in Uttar Pradesh. Under the partnership, which is supported by Tata Trusts, PANI will set up an FPO in the Balrampur district of Uttar Pradesh and will be leveraging the Doordrishti platform to benefit 10,000 small and marginal farmers. PANI will use three main components of the Doordrishti platform: the FPO Dashboard, the Krishak App for farmers, and the Krishak Saathi App for field representatives.
13/04/23
South Africa’s Farmtrace raises funding, plans African expansion
Farmtrace, a South African agritech start-up, has raised an undisclosed amount of equity investment from impact investor Secha Capital and venture capital fund Hassium Capital. FarmTrace provides cloud-based agricultural Enterprise resource planning (ERP) solutions to help farmers manage their operations, enabling them to improve yields and increase efficiencies. While the company has so far focused on South Africa, it is planning to expand to other African markets and to address the needs of smallholder farmers. Founded in 2015, FarmTrace raised USD 1 million in its seed funding round in 2018.
17/04/23
Good reads: Three not be missed reports on digital agriculture
Inclusively Advancing Agri-Food Systems through AI and Automation (April 2023) by the Centre of Digital Excellence at Genesis Analytics, with support from USAID and Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, maps out the likely trajectory of these technologies in agri-food systems and puts forward recommendations for more inclusive uptake and benefit. Access to finance for farmers’ organizations (March 2023) published by IFAD, the Smallholder and Agri-SME Finance and Investment Network (SAFIN) and the Farmers’ Organizations for Africa, Caribbean and Pacific (FO4ACP), analyses data collected through a survey of 220 institutions across 12 countries in West Africa, Asia and the Pacific. The analysis includes opportunities and challenges of farmer organisations accessing finance via digital solutions. Scaling up Responsible Digital Payments in the Rwandan Tea Sector (March 2023) by the Ethical Tea Partnership and the Better than Cash Alliance identifies six key areas of action, requiring a multi-stakeholder approach, to ensure farmers are at the center of a responsible and sustainable scale-up of digital payments.