IvyCap takes lead role in Thomson Reuters’ India farming platform
IvyCap Ventures has agreed to become the lead investor in Thomson Reuters’ information platform for Indian farmers. Terms and conditions of the transaction were not disclosed.
The global information provider will remain a shareholder in Reuters Market Light once the business is restructured under the newly formed RML Information Services. Amit Mehra, founder and managing director of the service, will continue to lead operations as CEO.
Established in 2007, RML provides agricultural, weather, market price and crop information over mobile phones to India's farming community. It claims to have served more than one million subscribers across 50,000 villages and 17 states. In total, nearly five million farmers have been impacted by the service through information sharing.
"We incubated and brought RML to India's agricultural community at a time when farmers had little or no visibility into the market prices of their crops and this has changed the agricultural landscape," said Shanker Ramamurthy, president of global growth and operations at Thomson Reuters, in a statement. "Thomson Reuters is pleased to join forces with IvyCap to provide the additional focus, expertise and investment needed to deliver the RML service that benefits thousands of rural farmers each day."
IvyCap, which invests in start-ups and growth stage companies across sectors including agriculture, education, energy, healthcare and technology, is expected to strengthen RML's product offering. Vikram Gupta, founder and managing partner at the VC firm, said significant value could be added by leveraging IvyCap's network of relationships in relevant areas.
The VC firm is sponsored by the Alumni Trust, a group of graduates from different branches of the Indian Institute of Technology and other educational institutions. IvyCap Ventures Trust Fund - I launched in 2011 and held a first close of INR1.05 billion ($19.4 million) last July. The full target is INR2 billion.
More on Venture
Latest News
Asian GPs slow implementation of ESG policies - survey
Asia-based private equity firms are assigning more dedicated resources to environment, social, and governance (ESG) programmes, but policy changes have slowed in the past 12 months, in part due to concerns raised internally and by LPs, according to a...
Singapore fintech start-up LXA gets $10m seed round
New Enterprise Associates (NEA) has led a USD 10m seed round for Singapore’s LXA, a financial technology start-up launched by a former Asia senior executive at The Blackstone Group.
India's InCred announces $60m round, claims unicorn status
Indian non-bank lender InCred Financial Services said it has received INR 5bn (USD 60m) at a valuation of at least USD 1bn from unnamed investors including “a global private equity fund.”
Insight leads $50m round for Australia's Roller
Insight Partners has led a USD 50m round for Australia’s Roller, a venue management software provider specializing in family fun parks.