Omnivore-backed agritech company Fasal raised Rs 100 crore in a series A funding round led by TDK Ventures and British International Investment (BII) on December 22. The development comes at a time when there are greenshoots in early-stage funding to startups are visible.
This comes months after Fasal’s cofounder Shailendra Tiwari in February, told Moneycontrol that the company is in talks to raise a new round of funding to support its output business foray.
In February, Moneycontrol had also reported that the company entered the farming output business under the brand, Fasal Fresh, which brings the produce grown through precision farming to consumers through retailers, e-commerce players, wholesalers, and exporters.
This development closely follows the announcement on December 13 of a late-stage funding of $46 million in another agritech firm Vegrow, led by GIC, Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund, Moneycontrol reported.
According to an official statement, the funds will be utilized by the company to broaden and diversify its B2B brand, Fasal Fresh, and to expand business operations in both India and Southeast Asia. Additionally, the funds will be allocated for advanced research and development in their proprietary farm IoT-crop (Internet of Things) intelligence technology, and the development of a carbon-negative horticulture value chain.
“...With this capital infusion, we plan to expand Fasal’s presence from 75,000 acres to 500,000 acres and enable our technology to deliver more to our farmers by providing them access to sustainable crop inputs, farm-level crop insurance, and working capital at lower interest rates…,” said Tiwari, who is also the CEO of Fasal.
Founded in 2018 by Tiwari and Ananda Verma, Fasal works towards making horticulture farming guesswork-free with irrigation alerts, farm-level forecasts, and pest and disease forewarnings, through its patented IoT system called Kranti. Today, working with Indian farmers who are leveraging this technology, Fasal covers over 75,000 acres across more than 20 crops, the statement said.
“Providing climate finance is a core part of BII’s strategy in India and Southeast Asia. By supporting the development of Fasal’s climate-smart solutions, we will be able to reach more smallholder horticulture farmers, helping them become more resilient to the impact of climate change which is greatly affecting the agriculture sector. We are impressed by how Fasal has contributed to water conservation and greenhouse gases reduction, as this will ultimately help achieve our planet’s sustainability goals,” said Srini Nagarajan, managing director, and Head of Asia for BII.
According to Fasal, the current funding round also saw contributions from ITI Growth Opportunities Fund, Navam Capital and Aureolis Ventures. Fasal’s existing investors including 3one4 Capital, Omnivore, Wavemaker Partners, Genting Ventures, and The Yield Labs Asia Pacific, chipped in for the current round, the statement added.
Earlier in November 2021, the company had raised $4 million in a pre-Series A round led by 3one4 Capital with participation from existing investors Omnivore and Wavemaker Partners.
With this Fasal aims to transform the $228 billion Indian horticulture industry with its full-stack platform anchored on top of its patented Internet of Things (IoT)-crop intelligence technology and expand further to South East Asia, it said.
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