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As the global population continues to grow, expected to reach 9.7 billion by 2050, the task of ensuring food security for all becomes increasingly complex and urgent.
In addition, climate change poses a significant threat to global food security. Extreme weather events, changing precipitation patterns, and rising temperatures are already affecting crop yields and livestock production. Farmers worldwide are grappling with unpredictable growing seasons and increased pest pressures.
In response to these challenges, agricultural technology (agtech) is rapidly evolving. Innovations such as vertical farming, precision agriculture, and SaaS for small farmer promise to increase yields while reducing environmental impact. By embracing innovation and adopting sustainable practices, startups in Asia work towards a future by improving productivity of the agriculture sector.
(Refer to : Meet eFishery: How the Startup of One College Student Became Indonesia's Aquaculture Unicorn)
(Refer to : Navigating Challenges in Deep Tech: Umami Bioworks' Journey in Cellular Agriculture)
Let’s take a glimpse at the 7 promising Agritech startups which have raised funds between seed to series B round in Asia. Number is irrelevant to ranking.
This Indian agritech startup recently raised $10 million in a Series B funding round. Ergos provides grain storage and financial services to smallholder farmers. Their digital platform connects farmers to buyers and helps optimize the agricultural supply chain.
As per the company, it currently supports over 1,60,000 farmers on its platform and has a physical network of farm-gate based warehouses branded as Grainbank in over 200 locations across the states of Bihar, Karnataka and Maharashtra. Over the past years, the company has helped farmers increase their income by 30-35% in a year.
(Refer to : Agritech firm Ergos secures $10 Mn in Series B funding)
Founded in Hong Kong and Cambodia, Agribuddy provides financial services, knowledge, and agricultural inputs to smallholder farmers. They've developed a credit scoring system to connect rural farmers with financial institutions.
While their exact funding is not specified, they've provided over $250,000 in credit to farmers through their pilot program.These startups are leveraging technologies like IoT, data analytics, and controlled environment agriculture to improve agricultural productivity and sustainability across Asia. They're addressing key challenges in areas like supply chain optimization, urban farming, and financial inclusion for smallholder farmers.
(Refer to : Credit scoring / Case Study: Acleda Bank)
Founded in 2016 in Yogyakarta, Indonesia, Mertani specializes in precision agriculture technology. The beginning of PT Mertani's establishment began with the team's awareness of the plantation industry's need for data digitization. They offer IoT sensor integration, cloud data solutions, and software for real-time agricultural data.
Their standout product is including the Automatic Weather Station (AWS), a solar-powered, wireless irrigation system tailored to crop needs. These products are ranging from IoT sensors, cloud data storage, to software that allows monitoring and analysis of agricultural data in real time via PC and smartphone. Then, the data can be accessed anywhere and anytime.
(Refer to : Mertani: Perusahaan IoT di Indonesia)
Singapore-based Archisen operates one of the country's highest-yielding indoor farms. They use Controlled-Environment Agriculture(CEA) and raised nearly $1.8 million in corporate funding in November 2023. Their Cropdom farm management solution integrates IoT sensors and data analytics to improve farm processes in real-time.
“We are in the process of building a fully automated indoor farm in Singapore that is able to produce up to 300 tons of Asian greens per annum and it will be completed this year. This will triple our production output while allowing us to offer locally-grown Asian greens, which are our local staples to Singaporeans. Additionally, we are expanding our current farm to 10,000 sq ft. We are also in talks with various partners to look into building more farms abroad." - Archisen Co-Founder Sven Yeo
Cropin is an Indian agritech startup that provides SaaS solutions for agribusinesses. The company has raised multiple rounds, including a $20 million Series C round in 2020. Their newest AI tools not only analyse historical data but also forecast future yields, identifying ideal locations and conditions for crop growth on a global scale.
"At the end of the day, it's the farmer who's paying for pretty much everything in the value chain, and hence it's a very cost-conscious industry. Second, agriculture is run on a planet scale, which means that scale is definitely a big challenge for us all. So, if we have to be cost-conscious and need something that can scale, we need to look at the best way to bring in data that can help us solve both of these, and that's where the answer was satellite data."
"The good part for us is that satellite technology only improves every passing year. It makes it so much more possible, unlike sensors and drones, which are expensive to buy, purchase, deploy, maintain, scale, and standardize. Yes, we can bring in IoT, sensor, and drone data, but that's not the way to go for agriculture." - Cropin Chief Marketing Officer Sujit Janardanan
(Refer to : Global AgriFoodTech Investment Report 2024)
This Australian-Cambodian startup is revolutionizing modern farming with innovative biodigesters. ATEC Bio's product efficiently converts livestock manure into clean cooking gas and organic fertilizer. They differentiate themselves with a PAYGO (pay-as-you-go) consumer finance model, making their technology more accessible to farmers with limited means.
"The system has the power to cover all household cooking needs and supply 20 tons of high quality organic fertiliser for crops, per year."
"Being flood resistant, extremely durable, and movable makes it the ideal solution for the Bangladeshi market and a valuable asset for its end-users. Usually, it takes three hours to install the system in any rural household" - Shuvasish Bhowmick, the Country Director of ATEC Bangladesh
Ninjacart is an Indian B2B fresh produce supply chain company. It has raised several rounds, including a $145 million Series C round led by Walmart and Flipkart in 2021
Ninjacart leverages technology to source fresh vegetables and fruits directly from farmers and delivers them to retailers and businesses across several cities within 12 hours. It operates on a B2B model, connecting farmers directly with retailers and eliminating middlemen.
“Agri is a $500-billion market. Solving this will leave a legacy for a lifetime.” - Ninjacart Co-founder Vasudevan C.
(Refer to : Ninjacart: The start-up, which made agritech look cool, is now looking to have a legacy of its own)
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