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HomePosts Tagged "funding" (Page 4)
Agrotech, Company News, Finance, India, Start ups

The company plans to use this funding for talent acquisition, R&D and production scale up.

Dare Ventures, the venture capital arm of Coromandel International Limited has announced its third investment this year into a differentiated drone startup, Dhaksha Unmanned Systems Private Limited. The company plans to use this funding for talent acquisition, R&D and production scale up.  

Coromandel, India’s largest private phosphatic fertilizer company has been a pioneer in deploying new age agritech solutions for the benefit of Indian farmers. The company has earlier partnered with Dhaksha drones to undertake several pilot programs of drone-based nutrient and crop protection applications. The company intends to soon launch a first of its kind “Drone as a Service” model in India. 

Dhaksha, one of the forerunners in the drone space in India, provides a complete range of Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS) technology solutions for different applications covering agriculture, defence, surveillance and delivery, among others. Based out of Chennai, the company has over the years developed expertise in drone R&D, testing, manufacturing, and customer support. In addition to having developed capability to manufacture battery-operated drones, Dhaksha is the only company in India to manufacture petrol engine-based drones. 

The “Agrigator” drone developed by Dhaksha targeting the agriculture industry, helps farmers with the application of fertilizers and crop protection products. Agrigator comes with a 12L spray tank and can cover up to 30-35 acres per day with 8-hour usage. In addition, the company has also developed targeted drones with specific use-case solutions across surveillance, goods delivery and mining.  

Commenting on the investment, Ramanathan Narayanan, Director and CEO of Dhaksha said, “This funding will help us create several milestones in the drone industry, deliver world-class drones, offer exceptional support to customers across India and make the company a frontrunner in realizing the government’s vision of making India a ‘Global Hub’ for Drones.”  

Commenting on their investment, Sameer Goel, Director, Dare Ventures Ltd., and Managing Director, Coromandel International Limited said “Coromandel is delighted to support Dhaksha in its aim to create a transformational impact on the drone manufacturing industry in India. With its strong research and manufacturing capabilities, we expect Dhaksha to be a leader in the Indian drone manufacturing space in the near future.”

The company plans to use this funding

Company News, Finance, India

 Company plans to expand its processing capacity for fruits and vegetables-based products, set up a biomass plant to generate electricity from process waste.

First Farmer-led Company in India, Sahyadri Farms Post Harvest Care Limited has raised Rs 310 crore (almost EUR 40 million) growth capital from a group of impact-focused investor, Incofin, Korys, FMO and Proparco. Sahyadri Farms is well-placed to help farmers run their businesses in a more profitable and sustainable way. Alpen Capital acted as exclusive strategic advisor to Sahyadri Farms for this transaction.

The capital received from Korys, FMO, Proparco and Incofin is intended to further grow the farmer’s company. Sahyadri Farms plans to expand its processing capacity for fruits and vegetables-based products, set up a biomass plant to generate electricity from process waste and enhance its infrastructure, like packhouses.

Sahyadri Farms is a good example of rural entrepreneurship providing end to end solutions to small and marginal farmers.  In 2010 a group of 10 farmers took the initiative to collectively produce and export fresh grapes to Europe. That initiative has grown into the leading fruits and vegetable export and processing company that Sahyadri Farms is today, servicing over 18,000 farmers, covering more than 31,000 acres and 9 crops. The company walks with its farmers from their choice of crops to the farming practices they employ, from the inputs they use to how they harvest and sell their agricultural products.

“The idea of Sahyadri Farms is to unite farmers and make them think like professional entrepreneurs. We are building a sustainable, scalable, and profitable organization for all our stakeholders by making farming profitable and viable activity for each small and marginal farmer”, said Vilas Shinde, founding farmer and Managing Director of Sahyadri Farms.

Rahul Rai, Partner at Incofin India commented that, “Incofin feels privileged to lead this investor consortium and its partnership with Sahyadri Farms to support its spread as a global role model of a partnership-based approach to farming that results in sustainable financial impact, climate change adaptation and inclusive growth in rural communities while creating a technology-driven, globally competitive business.”

Michael Jongeneel, CEO of FMO said, “We expect this first international equity investment in a farmer-led organization in India to help Sahyadri Farms reach even more farmers and set a blueprint for further growth in the industry.’’

Françoise Lombard, CEO of Proparco said, ” This investment in a leading Indian agricultural company committed to a responsible approach will generate many positive social and environmental impacts.  Sahyadri Farms will be able to implement concrete measures to adapt to climate change, but also to mitigate it by increasing its share of renewable energy production to more than 50 per cent, and finally, to implement its zero-waste policy”.

“We are very excited to be a shareholder of Sahyadri Farms as it has a sustainable Business model with an emphasis both on consciousness towards the farmers’ community and on the environment. Their journey revolves around an inspiring story of a farmer turned entrepreneur who established a state-of-the-art infrastructure with a vision to transform traditional Indian farming”, said Hari Subramanian, Partner Korys India.

 Company plans to expand its processing capacity

Agrotech, Company News, Finance, India, Start ups

 The funds will be utilised to provide financial and technological assistance to elevate traditional agri businesses

Agri-fintech startup Ayekart announced that the company has secured $5.5 million in equity and debt fund. The funding was co-led by corporate lending financial service firm Caspian Debt and individual focused micro financial platform Siply.

The raised funds will be utilized to provide financial and technological assistance to elevate traditional agri businesses and accelerate their growth, the company said in release.

Founded in 2020, Ayekart helps agri business through a set of services including finance, tech, and supply chain management. It also enables credit through non-banking financial corporations (NBFCs) and other lenders for pre-shipment finance, distributor & dealer finance. It also allows manufacturers to find new markets.

Ayekart claims to have helped over 10,000 businesses and facilitated 130 crore valued transactions in FY22 with the Ayekart platform. The company claims a gross transaction value (GTV) of Rs 139.5 crore in FY22 with operations across 13 cities. Going forward, it aims to enable 10 million traditional businesses to embrace technology & hand hold them financially along with expanding its reach to 15 countries in the next 5 years.

 The funds will be utilised to provide

Agrotech, Finance, India, Start ups

Loopworm plans to use the Seed funding for talent acquisition, R&D (including building world-class laboratories), and to launch their first factory for scaling up production.

India’s leading insect biotech startup, Loopworm, announced today that it has raised a USD 3.4 million Seed round co-led by Omnivore and WaterBridge Ventures, with participation from Titan Capital and leading angel investors including Nadir Godrej (Godrej Agrovet), Sanjiv Rangrass (ex-ITC), and Akshay Singhal (Log9 Materials).  Loopworm is optimizing insect farming for smallholders while producing value-added nutrients and ingredients for B2B customers.  Loopworm is Omnivore’s second investment under its OmniX Bio initiative, which backs early-stage agrifood life science startups.

Based in Bangalore, Loopworm was founded in 2019 by IIT Roorkee graduates Ankit Alok Bagaria and Abhi Gawri. The two young entrepreneurs are simultaneously solving India’s food waste crisis, increasing the incomes of smallholder farmers, and showcasing the power of Indian biotechnology to address environmental challenges. Using multi-species insect biotechnology, Loopworm is upcycling food waste into protein-rich nutrients and value-added ingredients.  This circular economy start up will help transform multiple sectors including aquaculture, pet food, and nutraceuticals.

Emulating poultry integration in India, Loopworm is building decentralized insect rearing facilities in partnership with smallholder farmers.  Over the next 5 years, the startup aims to produce 300,000 MT of sustainable insect-based protein per annum, creating value from 7.5 million MT of food waste and agricultural byproducts.  Loopworm plans to use the Seed funding for talent acquisition, R&D (including building world-class laboratories), and to launch their first factory for scaling up production.

Ankit Alok Bagaria and Abhi Gawri, Co-Founders of Loopworm, said, “We are thrilled to have Omnivore, Waterbridge, Titan Capital, and several experienced angels, including Nadir Godrej, as investors in Loopworm. We plan to use the new funding to set up our first Loop Factory in North Bangalore, hire talent, and accelerate R&D.”

Mark Kahn, the Managing Partner of Omnivore, commented, “ Loopworm sees massive potential in transforming cultivated insects into value-added nutrients and ingredients, and Omnivore believes the company will quickly become one of India’s leading biotech startups.”

Loopworm plans to use the Seed funding

Company News, Finance

Company plans to accelerate the commercial deployment of its next-generation product portfolio into new North American markets.

Toranto based Vive Crop Protection announced the close of its USD $26 million Series C investment round. The round was led by Emmertech with participation from the Cibus funds, and existing investors Business Development Bank of Canada (BDC), Export Development Canada (EDC), and Urbana Corporation. Vive has also secured debt financing from Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) to provide both working and growth capital in support of their continued expansion.

Vive will have a second close in the next quarter to accommodate top-tier investor groups still completing diligence – all strategically focused on next-generation agriculture technology. Vive will leverage its newest funding to accelerate the commercial deployment of its next-generation product portfolio into new North American markets while advancing its research and development pipeline.

“The investment by Emmertech, the Cibus funds, and existing investors, and the debt financing provided by Silicon Valley Bank underscores our success in delivering innovative solutions to farmers,” said Darren Anderson, Chief Executive Officer, Vive Crop Protection.

Kyle Scott, Managing Director of Conexus Venture Capital & Emmertech, says, “We are thrilled to be backing Vive’s outstanding team and the trust they’ve built among farmers with solutions that are efficient, sustainable, and profitable. We look forward to supporting Vive with their R&D infrastructure and entrance into global markets.”

Alastair Cooper, Head of Venture at the Cibus funds, said, “Our investment underlines our commitment to disruptive companies like Vive who place innovation at the core of their business model. As agriculture continues to embrace new technology, we believe Vive products will become increasingly important for maximizing on-farm efficiency and sustainability.”

Graeme Millen, Managing Director and Climate Tech & Sustainability lead in Canada for Silicon Valley Bank, says, “Vive’s unique technology exemplifies the power of next-generation solutions to create sustainable yet profitable outcomes for stakeholders. This approach aligns with SVB’s role as an active partner for high impact Agtech companies and we’re excited to support Vive’s important mission.”

Vive’s proprietary Allosperse® technology is a nanoscale, polymer-based delivery system that improves the targeting and performance of both synthetic and biological active ingredients, enhancing farmers ROI and sustainability profile.

Company plans to accelerate the commercial deployment

Company News, Finance, North America

The funding will enable company’s delivery of the first-ever externally applied RNA for crop protection

US based GreenLight Biosciences, a public benefit corporation striving to bring effective and safe solutions to make food clean and affordable for everyone and dedicated to developing health solutions for every person on our planet, announced a private placement of approximately $109 million.

The financing includes participation from new and existing institutional investors, including S2G Ventures, BNP Paribas Ecosystem Restoration Fund, Continental Grain Company, Cormorant Asset Management, the Cummings Foundation, Fall Line Capital, the FTX Foundation, Insud Pharma, Morningside Venture Investments, Rivas Capital, Sigmas Group, SymBiosis and certain directors and executive officers of GreenLight.

“GreenLight’s RNA platform has continued to prove its value as our research and development addresses a wide range of solutions to the world’s challenges,” said Andrey Zarur, CEO of GreenLight. “We are grateful for the support, conviction, and trust of our returning investors. We are also delighted to welcome new investors who have decided to join GreenLight in our mission to feed the world and keep it healthy.

“This funding enables our delivery of the first-ever externally applied RNA for crop protection. In coming months, we anticipate EPA approval and launch of Calantha™, our solution for control of the Colorado potato beetle. Later this year, we plan to make a regulatory submission of our solution targeting varroa mites, which are decimating honeybee colonies around the globe.

“In recent months, we have manufactured mRNA at scale with Samsung Biologics and launched partnerships to develop vaccines with the Vaccine Research Center at the National Institutes of Health and with The Serum Institute of India.” GreenLight will be working to develop vaccines for COVID and shingles in the coming months.

Matt Walker, a Managing Director at S2G Ventures and member of GreenLight’s Board of Directors, said, “This capital infusion from new and existing investors is not just a vote of confidence in GreenLight’s team and technology platform, but also in its commercial progress and growing pipeline of opportunities in human and plant health.”

The funding will enable company’s delivery of

Finance, India, Start ups

IBISA is scaling its operations in India with operations in Odisha, Karnataka, Telangana for coverage against excess rainfall, excess wind speed and drought.

 Agri insurtech startup IBISA announced that Ankur Capital, an India-based leading early-stage venture capital fund focused on transformative technologies in deeptech and climate tech has joined its seed round. Luxembourg-based Insurtech startup IBISA is on a mission to empower the Agri value chain players with innovative weather protection insurance solutions.

The company is also in talks with a number of large lenders, food processors, and Agritech clients across different geographies to mitigate their credit risk against default, reduce their supply chain risks and increase their sustainability practices in agriculture and strengthen farmer connection with smallholder farmers in India and abroad.

Founded in 2019, IBISA started its operations in India with the DHAN Foundation to provide parametric insurance against drought coverage in Tamil Nadu. Fast forward to now, IBISA is scaling its operations in India with operations in Odisha, Karnataka, Telangana for coverage against excess rainfall, excess wind speed and drought. They have also opened a registered office in Feb 2022 in Bengaluru.

Speaking on the investment, Ritu Verma, Partner at Ankur Capital mentioned, “The unavailability of data has hampered the growth of the agricultural insurance industry in developing countries for decades. Legacy crop insurance involved long manual processes making them impractical for developing markets where smallholder farming is the norm, and parametric insurance has historically been unviable due to the lack of detailed climate-related datasets. We are excited to partner with IBISA to transform the scale of available parametric insurance options in countries like India with a vast addressable market.”

“Farming is an integral part of both our societal and economic infrastructure. The impact that the war in Ukraine is having on food prices and food security seriously underscores the importance of global agriculture. And yet the support isn’t there. With IBISA, we sought to create technology that would help reduce costs for the active players in the insurance space. Finding a way to responsibly protect farmers in the event of extreme weather, by slashing distribution and operating costs, making it affordable to many groups in the value chain.” said Maria Mateo Iborra, CEO & Co-founder, IBISA.

Apart from India, IBISA has its operations in New Zealand, Guatemala, Senegal, Philippines, and other African countries. With strong insurance and reinsurance partnerships across different geographies and tailor-made products for lack of rain, excess rainfall, extreme temperatures, excess wind speed and cyclones, IBISA is able to address the needs of various Agri value chain players.

IBISA is scaling its operations in India

Agrotech, Company News, Finance, India, Start ups

The round was led by DSG Consumer Partners and Alkemi Growth Capital alongside existing investors Omnivore, Insitor Partners, and other angel investors.

Farmley, a full-stack nuts & dry fruits brand, has raised USD 6 million in Series A funding. The round was led by DSG Consumer Partners and Alkemi Growth Capital alongside existing investors Omnivore, Insitor Partners, and other angel investors.

The startup was founded in 2017 by IIT graduates Akash Sharma and Abhishek Agarwal. Farmley has built deep backend linkages over the years with domestic as well as international farming communities to source the highest quality of nuts and dry fruits. With deep customer insights and years of R&D, it has also developed 5 unique processing units in India. This has enabled Farmley to produce premium quality nuts and dry fruits, and to provide them at accessible price points to its consumers. The company has raised a prior seed round of USD 2 million in 2020 from Omnivore and Insitor.

In the last 18 months, Farmley has scaled its revenues by 10x to become one of the leading players in this category. They have omnichannel distribution, and their products are available on all leading e-commerce and quick commerce platforms alongside retail stores across the top 20 Indian cities. They are also available in select international markets including the US, Middle East, and Australia. Farmley plans to utilize the funds for channel expansion, brand building, and team building.

Akash Sharma & Abhishek Agarwal, Co-founders of Farmley, said, “Farmley is a consumer-centric brand at heart. We are here to become a globally loved brand, born in India and being consumer-first in our approach is the only way to achieve it.”

Hariharan Premkumar, Head of India at DSG Consumer Partners, commented, “We are excited to partner with Akash and Abhishek on their mission to build India’s most loved dry fruits and nuts brand with the best quality products. This segment is large and the unorganized market makes up 95% of the market. The products from the unorganized market suffer from quality, hygiene, and adulteration issues. The full backward integration at Farmley ensures premium quality produce and innovative product launches such as India’s first makhana pasta. The company is on a strong growth trajectory and the founders have built a stellar team with laser-focus on customer pain points.”

Dr Mansi Aggarwal, Partner at Alkemi Growth Capital, observed, “ Farmley is one of the fastest-growing brands in this segment and the team at the helm has grown the company to an impressive scale while building a sustainable supply chain’’

The round was led by DSG Consumer

Agrotech, Company News, Finance, North America

The funding will be used to advance climate resilience in agriculture by accelerating product development.

 US based Arable, the leader in field intelligence for agriculture, announced that it has raised $40 million in series C financing. The company will use the new funding to advance climate resilience in agriculture by accelerating product development, delivering new services for customers and expanding its global footprint.

Arable received the very first investment from Tom Steyer and Katie Hall’s new climate investment platform, Galvanize Climate Solutions, which led the fundraising round. In connection with their investment, Saloni Multani, partner at Galvanize Climate Solutions, joined Arable’s board. The funding sees new participation from Qualcomm Ventures. Also joining the round are Arable’s existing investors, including Prelude Ventures, S2G Ventures, Ajax Strategies, Grupo Jacto, Middleland Capital, M2O and iSelect.

Arable’s unique approach to data-driven decision-making resonates with its customers, resulting in four times growth in annual recurring revenue each of the last two years. Arable’s users are drawn to the ability to monitor and respond to conditions in their fields in real time, with active users on Arable’s mobile app increasing by 200 percent in the last 12 months. To support this growth, Arable has doubled the size of its team in the last year and added offices in Sao Paulo, Brazil, and Bangalore, India.

Multani said, “Arable is at the cutting-edge of farm innovation with technologies that combine the next frontier of connected sensors and machine learning. We are excited to lead this investment round because the company’s technology aligns with our mission to scale vital and urgent climate solutions.”

Jim Ethington, CEO of Arable said, “In addition to being used on-farm for operational decisions, Arable also helps larger companies to see across their entire farm supply chain, enabling them to accurately benchmark sustainability, estimate carbon emissions and sequestration, and predict yield or timing.”

To ensure the highest level of data accuracy, Arable has created a unique calibration and validation network of 30 global research institutions on more than 50 sites across 15 different climate zones who partner to produce industry-leading models that continuously improve with time through machine learning.

The funding will be used to advance

Agro chems – Fertilizers, Company News, Finance

The recent funding includes investment from Ospraie Ag Sciences (OAS), Bunge Ventures, the for-profit, global investment arm of Bunge and UPL Ltd.

Phospholutions Inc., a leader in sustainable fertilizer technology, has announced additional investment from leading global agricultural companies to support commercialization of RhizoSorb® in the US row crop market. The recent funding includes investment from Ospraie Ag Sciences (OAS), Bunge Ventures, the for-profit, global investment arm of Bunge and UPL Ltd.

“RhizoSorb® is proven to deliver the same amount of phosphorus to the plant with half the amount of applied fertilizer,” said Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Hunter Swisher. “Conventional fertilizers are inefficient as less than 25 per cent of phosphorus is taken up by the crop during the growing season. With recent increases in fertilizer prices and supply constraints in key global markets, farmers urgently need proven solutions to help maximize the return on input costs. This investment helps accelerate our commercial launch by supporting this year’s commercial trial program, strategic development partnerships, and enables product to be delivered to the US row crop market for the 2023 growing season.”

Utilizing its extensive network and 25 years of experience investing in agriculture, OAS is positioned to help farmers achieve a sustainable future. Carl Casale from OAS commented, “RhizoSorb® technology aligns closely to our venture firm’s mission to do more with less. The technology promotes increased grower profitability and reduces environmental impact to contribute to a more sustainable future for farming.”

This new investment series announced follows the Series A totaling $10.3M announced early last year, which allowed Phospholutions to more than triple in size. At the time, the investments were led by Continental Grain Company with participation from Tekfen Ventures, Maumee Ventures, Ag Ventures Alliance, and 1855 Capital. Additionally, Phospholutions recently won a $250K investment during The Radicle Challenge by UPL.

The recent funding includes investment from Ospraie

Agrotech, Finance, Start ups

The startup will use the capital raised for its expansion to new markets and towards research and development to support more crops.

IAN, an existing investor, joined the US Million $ round in Fyllo, an agri-tech startup led by Triveni Trusts, Ninjacart and new investors Venture Catalysts, StarAgri, Kia Ora Ventures, Singualrity Ventures, Mastermind Capital and angel investors. The start-up will use the capital raised for its expansion to new markets and towards research and development to support more crops.

Founded in 2019, Fyllo brings certainty in quality and quantity of agricultural produce through its data-driven Agri-science platform. Their IoT system understands and measures precise requirements of plants on real-time basis and then Agri-science platform backed by AI provides timely advice to farmers. The startup has developed crop-specific models for irrigation, nutrients, diseases, pests, and weather management for each physiological stage of crop and soil.  Fyllo helps farmers grow export quality crops through its data-driven platform that is powered by IoT, AI, and Agronomy. Fyllo has expanded its services to 2000+ farmers and 10+ corporates across 4 states in India covering 20,000 acres.

Speaking on the latest development, founders Sudhanshu Rai and Sumit said, “Farmers have seen the impact of technology and the adaptability has increased. Having received the funding, we are looking to invest in expanding our brand to new markets and more crops.”

M.K Dhanuka, Managing Trustee, Triveni Trust said, “Fyllo’s specific, precise and AI-driven advise to farmers helps them increase their crop productivity and lower input cost. 100% customer retention reflects the farmer’s confidence in Fyllo’s offering. This will contribute to transforming India through agriculture. We are excited about our investment in Fyllo.”

Ninjacart co-led this round and Thirukumaran Nagarajan, Co-founder & CEO , of Ninjacart said, “ Fyllo provides actionable insights through a combination of technology, science and data. We look forward to working with Fyllo team to expand their distribution through Ninjacart’s farmer network across the country.”

Padmaja Ruparel, co-founder of IAN said, “IAN invests in changemaker-startups like Fyllo — which have witnessed continuous business growth. The founders bring both passion and leadership and we are excited to be a part of the Fyllo journey.”

The startup will use the capital raised

Uncategorized

The company plans to significantly increase its presence to 100 Growing Centers in 20 countries

Infarm, a rapidly growing urban farming company with a global presence, announced that it has raised $200 million in a Series D funding round. The investment included participation from existing and new investors, including the Qatar Investment Authority (QIA) – which will support the company’s expansion to countries in the Middle East – Partners in Equity, Hanaco, Atomico, Lightrock, and Bonnier.

The additional capital will serve to expand the deployment of the company’s vertical farms in the US, Canada, Japan and Europe, and to enter new markets in Asia-Pacific and the Middle East with both in-store farming units and Infarm Growing Centers. In 2023, Infarm will open its first Growing Center in Qatar, where it will harvest tomatoes, strawberries and other fruiting crops besides herbs, salads and leafy greens.

This new farming model can be as much as 400 times more efficient than soil-based agriculture and uses no chemical pesticides. It requires 95 per cent less land and uses 95 per cent less water by recycling water and nutrients and using the evaporated water of the plants. 

Goldman Sachs Bank Europe SE and UBS acted as financial advisors to Infarm on this transaction.

The company plans to significantly increase its

Agrotech, Finance

Meiogenix has developed an innovative approach to common problems in agriculture

Meiogenix, an agriculture biotech company using the process of chromosome editing to expand genetic diversity in food and agriculture, has announced the closing of a $13 million (€11 million) Series A financing round, led by Sofinnova Partners, with participation from Genoa Ventures, Bpifrance, Casdin Capital and Alexandria Venture Investments.

Meiogenix has developed an innovative approach to common problems in agriculture, addressing key global food and industrial challenges. Meiogenix is applying gene and chromosome editing technologies to accelerate nature’s generation of biodiversity through the mixing of parental genomes during plant reproduction. This helps expedite the lengthy process of plant varieties selection and also leads to increased biodiversity, lost during the systematic selection of crops for high yield and long shelf life.

The Meiogenix platform addresses the $50 billion commercial seed market and breeding capabilities of large and essential crops like corn, wheat, rice, soybeans and tomatoes.  
 

Meiogenix has developed an innovative approach to