Unitus Seed Fund backs Indian rural distribution start-up

Founded in 2009, VIM distributes products to farmers in India. It does this by recruiting well-connected entrepreneurs from local communities and training them to provide advisory-driven sales.

The company will use the new capital to expand its distribution operations and product portfolio and to build internal systems and management capabilities. It wants to achieve a 20-30% income increase in one million rural households over the next five years by encouraging the use of sustainable and environmentally friendly products.

Since its inception in 2009, VIM has already sold products to more than 6,000 farming households in the Erode district of Tamil Nadu, generating an estimated INR80 million ($2 million) of additional wealth.

Dave Richards, managing director of Unitus Seed Fund, said the company's promising operating results have proved its potential to bring better livelihoods to struggling farming families.

"Our strength lies in understanding the needs of underserved small farmers and then providing them with affordable, high-quality products which improves their farm income very quickly," Ashutosh Sinha, CEO of the company, said in a statement.

Unitus Capital acted as a financial advisor to Unitus Seed Fund on this investment.

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• Topics
• South Asia
• Investments
• Early-stage
• India