Mistletoe leads $3 mn seed round in Kisan Network

Gurugram-based Kisan Network has raised $3 million as part of its seed funding round led by Mistletoe managing director Atsushi Taira.

According to the company blog, the funding round also saw participation from US-based seed accelerator Y Combinator, Thiel Foundation, seed investments focused venture capital firm Venture Highway, VC firms FundersClub and Lynett Capital, and angel investor Gokul Rajaram.

The funds will be used to expand to new regions and bring in new varieties of crops. A portion of the funds will also be used to introduce new farmer-centric products and services to its customers.

“We have developed into a thriving organisation of 70 and growing, serving more than 55,000 farmers across thousands of villages in India. With this funding and the building blocks of our supply chain in place, we believe that we are the cusp of becoming an even larger Pan India player in the market,” Aditya Agarwalla, co-founder and CEO at Kisan Network, said.

Aditya Agarwalla founded the company in 2015 with his father Sanjay Agarwalla. It is an integrated supply chain for farmers to sell their produce directly to buyers. The company claims to have over 55,000 farmers onboard from over 6,000 villages in the country.

The company gives farmers access to information about their produce and market prices. To check crop quality, the company uses computer vision to remotely assess the physical characteristics of the crops. It has partnered with local logistics players to ensure that produce is directly sent to the buyer.

“We see immense value in Kisan Network’s focus in providing market linkages directly to farmers, and their progress so far in building out each aspect of their tech-enabled supply chain is highly promising,” Mistletoe's Taira.

Agritech has been of interest to investors, and in an exclusive article to TechCircle, Hemendra Mathur explained why 2020 could be the start of a future-defining decade for food and agritech.

This month, agritech startup TechnifyBiz bagged $2 million in a seed round from impact investors Omnivore and Insitor Partners.

Last month, Pune-based FarmERP raised an undisclosed amount in Series A from Singapore-based software firm Technogen IT Services.