Agri-tech startup Agro2o scoops up funds from Mumbai Angels

New Delhi based Concinnity Agro2o, which owns and operates an eponymous agri-tech startup, has raised an undisclosed sum in a bridge funding round, dubbed pre-seed, from Mumbai Angels Network. 

This is the first external institutional funding raised by the company. Founded in 2018, Agro2o combines home gardening and hydroponics with automation and internet-of-things (IoT). Its smart garden product helps people in urban areas to grow any kind of plant in a small space. Its model Agro2o savor allows potting up to five plants while Agro2o renaissance allows 12 plants.

The company will use the funds to set up manufacturing, capital expenditure and marketing, according to a statement. 

"With the rising awareness of eating fresh and healthy, every urban household would love to have a kitchen garden but neither do they have enough space nor do they have time and expertise to maintain the same. Agro2o is solving all these with one-of-a-kind flaunt-worthy, self-watering and self-nutrient discharging smart garden,” Rohit Pugalia Mumbai Angel investor said.

The company has started manufacturing both savor and renaissance models and has received 300 pre-orders so far, it said in a blog post recently. The actual sales will commence sometime in the third quarter of the next financial year, the post said.

"With the world-changing, Mumbai Angels pitched in at the right time to support us in executing our vision to offer healthy and sustainable solutions for better living,” Yash Vyas, founder of Agro2o said.

Angel investor collective Mumbai Angels has 140 startups in its portfolio and has invested Rs 150 crores. Earlier this year, it invested in agritech BrainWired, which provides livestock health monitoring and tracking services.  

Dealmaking activity in agri-tech startup space has picked up pace since April. Last week, omnichannel fresh produce distributor WayCool raised $5.5 million in debt financing from IndusInd Bank, backed by US International Development Finance Corporation (DFC). 

In May, Zurich-based agri-focused investment firm Pioneering Ventures acquired local agri-tech company Lateral Praxis to improve its technology-enabled data and information solutions for the food supply chain. 

In the same month, artificial intelligence (AI)-based agritech startup Intello Labs raised $5.9 million in Series A round from Saama Capital, global agritech fund Grow and Los Gatos, SVG Ventures, Omnivore and Nexus Venture Partners.