SmartFarms Agritech: reduce farming costs by 20%

15-10-2019 | Tools & data | News

2017-10-16 16:28:57 This photo taken on October 16, 2017 shows Indian farmer Kuldeep checking paddy grains extracted by a harvester machine in a field in Sonipat in the northern Indian state of Haryana. As Hindus across India celebrate Diwali this week, scientists fear a ban on firecrackers and other emergency anti-pollution measures deployed by authorities may not be enough to prevent a repeat of last year's "airpocalypse" in Delhi. On the city's outskirts however, farmers are busy burning crop residue to clear their land before the new harvest and the acrid smoke has already begun to drift south, casting a pall over the world's most polluted capital and leaving millions gasping for breath. PRAKASH SINGH / AFP

Indian agtech startup SmartFarms Agritech raised $?1.5 million from angel investors. The company is developing a mobile app that’s to help farmers sell their crops for the best price and tells farmers which vendors are providing the best rates. With the app, overall farming costs could be reduced by 20%.

SmartFarms Agritech develops technology that aims to improve agriculture logistics and distribution. The company provides end-to-end logistics solutions to farmers which eliminates all the middlemen, thus reducing costs for farmers and increasing their incomes.

$ 1.5 million raised

In order to expand operations across India, SmartFarms Agritech raised $ 1.5 million from angel investors. The pre-series A funds was led by angel investor Sunkara Subba Rao from management consulting firm Renous Consulting.

In a statement Smart Farms said the raised capital will be invested in hiring senior level management, upgrading technology and expanding operations. The startup is also in talks to raise another round of pre-Series A funding from a new set of investors in the coming weeks.

End-to-end logistics solutions

“With our integrated system we are able to eliminate the middlemen and provide end-to-end logistics solutions to farmers, which brings them extra income,” said SmartFarms founder Satish Sehrawat.

The company is also developing a mobile application that’s to show farmers where to sell their crops for the best price and which vendors are providing the best rates, thus increasing their income.

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SmartFarms provides end-to-end logistics solutions to farmers which eliminates all the middlemen, thus reducing costs for farmers and increasing their incomes. – Photo: AFP

Encourage young people

“This is to encourage more young people to become a farmer. At the moment, young people aren’t interested in farming because they feel they won’t be able to make enough money,” Sehrawat added.

“Using our technology, farmers will be able to reduce their overall farming costs by 20%,” Sehrawat stressed.

Recent developments and investments in Indian agritech sector

In August 2019, Netherlands-based Rabobank and impact investment and enterprise platform Caspian set up an agritech financing fund focusing on data-driven agri-tech companies.
Indore based Gramophone raised $ 3.5 million in Series A funding from Info Edge, Asha Impact and Better Capital.
Pune-based AgroStar raised $ 27 million in a Series C funding round in March, led by Bertelsmann India, along with participation from existing investors Accel, Chirate Ventures and Aavishkar Bharat Fund.
Bangalore based CropIn Technology Solutions partnered the Punjab Agri Export Corporation (PAGREXCO) to improve the quality of potato seed production in the state. Under the partnership, PAGREXCO will use CropIn’s AI solutions to facilitate agricultural and supply-chain operations.
According to a report by Nasscom, Investments in India’s agritech sector increased by 300% to $ 248 million till June 2019, as compared to the same period last year.