Sequoia leads $12m round for Indian agriculture marketplace

Dutch development finance institution FMO, an investor in WayCool Foods - a similar firm in South India - has also come in as a new investor. Existing backers Omnivore Partners, a local impact investor, and AgFunder, a US venture firm specializing in agricultural technology investments, also participated. Venture debt provider Trifecta Capital has previously provided credit to the company, according to AVCJ Research.

DeHaat, founded in 2012, is an online marketplace where farmers can buy inputs, obtain advisory services, secure loans for working capital, and sell their produce. It claims to have more than 200,000 users on the platform and operate over 440 retail stores that handle last-mile deliveries and collections.

Operating out of eight hubs primarily in east India, DeHaat has forged partnerships with over 200 enterprise clients to ensure bulk demand for its users. The new funding is expected to go towards launching more than 2,000 retail stores in the next 12 months and the introduction of automation and data analytic solutions, according to TechCrunch.

“Indian agriculture is a $350 billion industry powered by close to 100 million small and independent farmers. This industry is on the brink of a massive transformation with ease of regulation, farmers getting organized and increasing smartphone penetration, and DeHaat is leveraging these trends to build the next-gen product in the agricultural supply chain,” said Abhishek Mohan, a vice-president at Sequoia, according to a statement. 

Apart from WayCool, other VC-backed agriculture-focused technology companies in India include Ninjacart, DayBox, Crofarm, FreshoKartz, and CropIn. 

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• Topics
• South Asia
• Technology
• Expansion
• India
• Agritech
• Omnivore Partners
• FMO
• Sequoia Capital