Agritech startup Krishitantra, robotics company Genrobotics raise funds

Hyderabad, Telangana based soil technology startup Krishitantra has raised $ 1 million (about Rs. 7.6 crore) in a seed funding round from NABVENTURES  and Omnivore.

Founded in 2017 by Sandeep Kondaji, Vishnuprasada Bhat and Anand Bellan Raman, the startup provides soil testing and soil nutrition advisory to farmers and farmer organisations.

Krishitantra claims its internet of things (IoT) device can test different parameters of soil such as macro and micro nutrients, pH, organic carbon and others within 30 minutes.

The device then crunches the data to generate soil nutrition recommendations to the farmers. The startup aims to enter the Southeast Asian countries in the near future.

Anand Mahindra backs Genrobotics 

Trivandrum, Kerala based Genrobotics has raised an Rs 2.5 crore (about $341,216) in a bridge funding round, dubbed as pre-series A, led by existing investors Unicorn India Ventures. 

Mahindra Group’s Chairman, Anand Mahindra, also took part in the round along with SEA Fund.

The company will use the capital for the production of its robot Bandicoot, which is an AI (artificial intelligence) driven machine designed to help clean sewer manholes. The robot consists of a stand unit and a drone unit that will dive into the manhole for cleaning applications.

The startup has already been working with the Centre and the state governments to eradicate manual scavenging from the country. Genrobotics said that 11 states in the country have deployed the robots, with the latest deployment being in the Coimbatore smart city mission.

“Frankly, if robots can liberate people from this most degrading job in the universe, then I promise I will discard any doubts and always pray at the shrine of technology and robotics,” Anand Mahindra, Chairman of Mahindra group said.

The startup was co-founded in 2015 by Arun George, Nikhil NP, Rashid Bin Abdulla and Vimal Govind MK.