Agri-Tech firm Fasal raised $ 1.6 million for expansion

Agricultural technology firm Fasal has raised $1.6 million (Rs 11 crore) in its seed round of funding led by impact investor Omnivore

Agricultural technology firm Fasal has raised $1.6 million (Rs 11 crore) in its seed round of funding led by impact investor Omnivore and early-stage venture capital firm Wavemaker Partners. Other investors that participated in the funding round include Mount Parker Ventures and Hong Kong-based Animoca and Japan’s Mistletoe.

The company has stated that existing investors Zeroth, an artificial intelligence-machine learning accelerator, and Australia-based Artesian Ventures also contributed to the round.
Fasal,which is operated by Wolkus Technology Solutions Pvt. Ltd, said it will use the funds to build  AI capabilities for each horticulture value chain and to launch a lower-cost installable version of its field sensor array.

Ananda Prakash Verma, co-founder at Fasal, said, “Farmers are seeing major increases in  profitability and huge water savings after using Fasal. Ultimately, we will become a full- stack platform for horticulture farmers.”

About Fasal
Fasal was launched in 2018 by Ananda Prakash Verma and Shailendra Tiwari. It is an AI
(Artificial Intelligence)-powered IoT-SaaS platform for horticulture. It captures real-time  data on growing conditions from on-farm sensors and delivers farm-specific, actionable  advisories to farmers via mobile in vernacular languages.
Ananda Verma, an alumnus of IIIT-Bangalore, earlier launched tech-media start up
Fossbytes. Shailendra Tiwari is an alumnus of National Institute of Fashion Technology
(NIFT), and earlier worked with companies like Decathlon.
The company claims that its field sensor array can be installed by farmers in less than fifteen minutes and measures multiple dynamic variables, including micro-climate, soil, and crop conditions.

Horticulture Value Chain
The Company is presently operating in Maharashtra, Karnataka, Chhattisgarh, Madhya
Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, and Andhra Pradesh, but plans to expand pan-India and also enter
markets across Southeast Asia. Fasal is currently working in horticulture value chains
such as grapes, pomegranate, mango, citrus, tea, coffee, and chili.

Mark Kahn, managing partner at Omnivore, said that “The firm plans to help Fasal to
accelerate the growth of their B2B2F business model by connecting them to leading
agribusinesses across the region and on boarding the farmers.”
Fasal is one of several agri-tech start-ups that have raised funds in recent years, as
entrepreneurs and investors look for solutions to solve myriad problems in India’s
agriculture sector.