Agritech startup Gramophone gets $3.38 mn in Series-A round

Indore- and Bangalore-based Agstack Technologies, which operates agritech platform Gramophone, has raised Rs 24 crore ($3.38 million at the current exchange rate) in a Series-A round of funding.

The money was raised from existing investor Info Edge, UK-based investment firm Better Capital and Delhi-based impact investment firm Asha Impact, the company said in a statement.

The round also saw the participation of Raveen Sastry, co-founder of Myntra.

Tauseef Khan, co-founder and CEO of the venture, said the funds will be utilised for product development, ramping up data science capabilities and geographical expansion.

“In an industry where market prices can be highly volatile, we believe real income increases for small farmers can be driven by optimising farming practices and lowering their cost of inputs,” Kartik Desai, executive director, Asha Impact, said.

In a regulatory disclosure to the stock exchange, Info Edge informed that it did not participate in the current funding round. It also added that its stake had come down to 33.21% from 37.21%.

It could not be immediately ascertained whether the startup has factored in the Rs 14 crore ($1.97 million) investment it received from Info Edge in April this year as part of the current announcement.

Infoedge had previously invested $1 million (Rs 6.4 crore then) in March last year. 

Gramophone

Gramophone was launched in 2016 by IIM-Ahmedabad alumni Khan and IIT-Kharagpur alumni Nishant Mahatre. Both founders had stints in agri-tech companies and venture capital funds.

Through a mobile app, Gramophone helps farmers by disseminating timely information, technology and inputs to achieve better yields.

Farmers can access localised package of practice, crop advisory and weather information. Farmers can also get crop protection tools, crop nutrition products, seeds, implements and agricultural hardware at their doorstep.

Recent deals in agritech

• June 2019: Business-to-business (B2B) agri-marketing platform NinjaCart raised $2.87 million (about Rs 20 crore then) from venture debt provider Trifecta Capital.
• June 2019: Jumbotail, an online marketplace for food and grocery items that caters to wholesale buyers, raised Rs 90 crore (around $12.5 million) in a Series B round of funding.
• May 2019: DeHaat, a Gurugram-based online marketplace for farm products and services, acquired VezaMart, a platform that builds farm management solutions for farmers.
• May 2019: DeHaat raised Rs 20 crore in venture debt from Trifecta Capital.