India | August 05, 2025 – Cropin, the world’s largest deployed AI platform for food and agriculture, has secured a strategic €700,000 contract under EIT Food’s Impact Funding Framework. Cropin will deploy its AI-powered initiative, FIRST Potato – Field Intelligence for Regenerative Agriculture and Sustainability in Potato Farming, to accelerate the adoption of regenerative practices across Europe. As part of the initiative, Cropin will convene a consortium of food processors, research institutions, and sustainability leaders to accelerate the transition from conventional potato farming to regenerative agricultural practices.
Cropin’s AI-powered decision support system (DSS) integrates crop-specific intelligence, real-time field data from sensors, satellite images, weather stations, IoT devices, and Cropin’s own data models, and predictive analytics to enable the seamless adoption of regenerative methods without compromising yield or quality. FIRST Potato delivers plot-specific daily advisories to growers tailored to the unique soil profile and microclimatic conditions of each farm, enabling optimized irrigation, input usage, and residue management. These hyper-local insights enable effective regenerative practices by enhancing soil health, significantly reducing the environmental footprint, and improving yields, making regenerative agriculture economically attractive and scalable.
In order to scale adoption across Europe, the FIRST Potato deployment will scientifically validate its performance on pilot farms in Denmark and initiate the first commercial pilots with two potato processors in Germany and the UK. Cropin has partnered with Aarhus University, a globally recognized leader in sustainable agriculture research, to validate the insights and impact delivered by the platform.
“As regenerative agriculture gains momentum, the absence of verifiable, measurable outcomes poses a real challenge to meaningful, scalable impact,” said Krishna Kumar, CEO and Founder of Cropin. “Without robust digital systems, farmers struggle to consistently uphold regenerative principles. Through AI, data intelligence, and real-time decision-support, we are bridging this critical gap, bringing precision, accountability, and scale to regenerative agriculture. With FIRST Potato, our goal is to help farmers adopt climate-smart practices that are both profitable and scientifically validated.”
Potato processors seek to source tubers with high solid content to enhance the product quality of chips and fries, while regenerative practices support corporate sustainable sourcing requirements. These practices also improve potato solid content, but often result in reduced yields in the initial years. Cropin’s precision and predictive technology helps farmers address this challenge by optimizing inputs, improving yields, and meeting quality goals, while simultaneously restoring soil health and building climate resilience. This deployment aims to deliver collective benefits, enabling growers to enhance profitability, helping brands meet their sustainability targets, and benefiting the planet, creating a win-win for the entire agri-food ecosystem.
With regenerative agriculture rapidly advancing across Europe and the UK, Cropin is actively engaging in strategic commercial partnerships and pilot deployments in the region. The company is in advanced discussions with several leading UK and Europe based agri-food brands and expects to close multiple regenerative agriculture pilots in the region before the end of the current financial year.
Ten percent of India’s total exports are agricultural products, making it the fourth most exported significant sector for the country. Despite agriculture’s importance, India’s low output-to-input ratio reveals serious structural flaws that are making life difficult for those who work in the industry. Increased input costs, decreased output, unpredictable weather, dwindling resources, restricted market access, stagnant innovation, and so on are all instances of such difficulties. When it comes to encouraging innovation and entrepreneurship, the agricultural sector is actively looking for methods to use technology to increase crop yields. The agriculture sector of India’s economy is feeling the effects of artificial intelligence and other types of disruptive technology. StartupTalky spoke exclusively with Praveen Pankajakshan, Head, of Cropin AI Labs to elaborate further on the subject “AI enhancing country’s agriculture sector”.
How do you envisage the future of AI in the agriculture sector?
Mr. Praveen: The applications of AI in Agriculture can be profoundly transformative, and we have just begun to scratch the surface in exploring the potential of it. Based on some indicators, at Cropin, we started investing resources early on and developed over 50 different models for different customers, which are at different Technology Readiness Levels (TRL). Crop health and phenological stage monitoring, generating cloud-free data, risk mapping for biotic and abiotic stresses, sowing progression and harvest prediction, and irrigation management models that farmers and organizations across the globe are already using. Although we had been working in this space for long, last year, we felt the need to formally launch the Cropin AI Lab in anticipation of its potential for Agriculture.
There is a rapid change in the pace at which the landscape of AI is evolving, and its implications for agriculture are limitless, impacting every stage, from land preparation to cultivation to the consumption process. One of the emerging trends we see is the democratization of AI, and we see many scientifically peer-reviewed methodologies coming into the public domain, even for commercial applications. The world is moving from task-specific models to generic models that can access a wide variety of data modalities. While this will only evolve further, one primary concern that many have (and rightfully so) is the right use of the data and the models. Data privacy, Trust and explainability in AI, ethical use of AI, and lack of data diversity leading to bias are genuine concerns and trending conversations in the market where organizations respond with the right strategies and solutions in their respective industries and domains.
While many are working on AI for Agriculture, the applicability of diverse types of farmers, including small-land-holding farmers (less than 2 hectares) in the Global South, is limited. Most of these solutions are suitable for large farmers who are cultivating mono-crops. While it is important to address the needs of those farmers as well, we cannot neglect the 600 million small-landholding farmers (based on FAO data) who need our assistance in helping them grow food for us in a sustainable and climate-smart way. Currently, there is no lack of data but the available data is noisy or biased, and hence, models that were trained on them carry with them the colors of the data.
Farmers may better grasp data insights such as temperature, precipitation, wind speed, and solar radiation by using artificial intelligence in agriculture. How precise is this data and how it can enhance the output?
Mr. Praveen: The challenge is not in the precision but in the availability of the data. From our own analysis, we have found that the gridded weather data is reasonably accurate compared to weather station data, especially for estimating the temperature and relative humidity. These methodologies use ground station data along with Satellites and Radar data to forecast using a combination of statistical, AI, and numerical techniques. However, reliably forecasting rainfall, even for a few days, is always a challenge and is a fundamentally complex problem to solve as the amount of data available for training these models from weather stations is sparse. As the climate changes, there is an even more need to set up more automatic weather stations or rain gauge stations (ARG). There are many recent initiatives by the Government of India to address this. So, very soon, we will see many stations coming up, densely in the different parts of the country, which can help the models become more accurate.
Looking at this from a farmer’s lens, the existing weather data is very useful for estimating the possibility of a disease or stress onset. Communication of this reliable secondary derived data in a timely manner to the farmers is much more critical. Depending on the monsoon onset, the farmers choose the sowing time and any management practices that can be followed. Due to climate change, we have recently observed delays or early onset of monsoon and false onsets. In many smallholder markets like India, the majority do not have access to this data, at least not on a widespread scale.
Farmers typically base their cultivation processes on traditional wisdom, historical data, and years or decades of experience in the field. In the face of evolving agricultural market dynamics, increasing weather threats, and concerns about pests and diseases, there is also a need to share the data to update their knowledge. However, one must be careful not to overload them with too much information that freezes their decision-making capacity.
Through some of our ground-level surveys, we have found that many farmers have increased yield quantity and quality by a minimum of 25% by adopting some of our solutions. So, the potential and aspiration is to extend this to all the farmers to benefit. The data must be homogenized and brought down to a scale where it is easily ingestable and trustworthy. One key element is to increase the trust of the farmers with whom we work.
Since most of the farmers in India are not tech-savvy and properly educated, how these new technological enhancements can reach them, and how they can be implemented in the best possible ways?
Mr. Praveen: In my interactions with farmers across the globe, they are very curious and ready to learn and implement ideas. The adoption has been limited because there are too many tools, and not all address their essential needs. If trust is established, farmers are keen to adopt some of these technological advancements, not only in India but across smallholder farmer markets worldwide. Tech adoption is actively changing and we are seeing an increase in momentum.
To date, we have digitized about 30 million acres of farmland and impacted the lives of about 7 million farmers globally through some of our solutions. We acknowledge that it is an upward journey to reach out to many more and earn their trust.
Large-scale adoption is challenging but is on the horizon, and all the private and public sector stakeholders are aligning to usher in a major agricultural revolution. Today, farmers grapple with climate change, pest and disease challenges, crop losses, and more. They are actively seeking new ways to transform their cultivation processes, and it’s a natural progression in the lifecycle.
For instance, we can predict the potential risk of pest and disease infestation at the plot and the regional level days and sometimes weeks in advance. It allows farmers to address issues proactively, minimizing yield loss. We also provide advisories to farmers based on geo-location, crop, and environmental suitability from sowing to harvest. For Governments and organizations that work with farmers, we provide sowing progression insights, harvest detection, and extreme weather conditions that can affect yield at harvest.
The critical aspect is to make these solutions more accessible and easier for farmers to adopt. They should be affordable and address their daily challenges while raising awareness of how technology can enhance productivity, profitability, and living conditions. Bridging the digital divide in agriculture and addressing financial inclusion at the rural level are also pressing concerns. One player alone cannot tackle the magnitude of issues plaguing the sector and farmers. At Cropin, we understand that it requires the collaboration of all stakeholders, including governments, agribusinesses, NGOs, development agencies, international organizations, financial service providers, and more. In the process, we make our solutions accessible and affordable. They also get the full backing of the entire ecosystem to support them so that farmers feel empowered and, most importantly, supported. We firmly believe we’re on the right path, and you can expect transformations very soon.
Indian Government, during 2020-21 and 2021-22, has allocated funds to the tune of INR 1756.3 cores and INR 2422.7 crores to the States for introducing new technologies including drones, artificial intelligence, blockchain, remote sensing, GIS, etc in agriculture. Can this be considered as a major boost and is it reaping the right fruit for the sector?
Mr. Praveen: While we cannot provide a commentary on government policies, it is worth noting that the government is undeniably moving in the right direction. These progressive policies and roadmaps have the potential to not only uplift our agriculture sector but also set an example for other countries to follow. What’s crucial now is to focus on the most effective way to implement these progressive policies, ensuring they translate into action on the ground seamlessly.
Since India is a country where dialects change with every mile, how the service providers are coping with this challenge?
Mr. Praveen: This doesn’t currently pose a significant challenge because there have been recent advancements in text-to-speech algorithms that are specifically trained for the Indian languages and context. But, the critical element is customizing the solutions to the localized needs. With such crop diversity and growing conditions, this is one of the most critical challenges to address. Our platform is made available to the preferred language of choice for the farmers, and we customized/scaled these solutions to many countries. Additionally, we have established an ecosystem of customers, partners, and field agents who understand the specific requirements of farmers in every nook and corner, which is an invaluable support to farmers and those working for them.
India has the second-largest agricultural land in the world. About 60% of rural Indian households make their living from agriculture. The agro-based industry saw growth at a CAGR of 16.4% from FY10 to FY18.
Agricultural exports from India reached US$ 38.54 billion in FY19 and in FY20 (till November 2019) US$ 22.69 billion. With many initiatives for farmers, the government aims to double farmers’ income by 2022. So we have compiled a list of agriculture startups in India that are making a name and increasing their growth in quick succession.
The agriculture sector in India is suffering from a variety of problems like the use of outdated equipment, improper infrastructure, and farmers unable to access a wider range of markets with ease while making just limited profits on crop sales. Proper infrastructure and supply chain management are the more pressing concerns.
With improvements in areas of technology, digitization and startup culture growing rapidly, there are many new ones entering the Indian startup ecosystem. The Agri startups in India are providing information, techniques and efficiencies to farmers.
Let’s look at some of the best agritech startups in India
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Founded by Kamesh Mupparaju and Linus Lindgren in 2018, SFarmsIndia is an online web application with two core functions; listing and fraction trading.
These two functions work together creating a great synergy. On the listing platform, buyers can find/search agricultural lands and sellers can list/post the agricultural lands for sale/lease.
On the other hand, SFarmsIndia’s main USP is that it makes an agreement with the seller (Agri-realty developer) to issue fractions by digital land contract against their lands.
Each agricultural land is assigned with a digital contract and divided into 2000 fractions per acre, thereby enabling medium to small income groups to acquire lands easily. After owning the fraction, people can sell it directly through the trading platform.
Technology is the core of SFarmsIndia’s business operations. Using technology, they intend to create an effective and efficient platform for Agri-lands that can eliminate the middlemen who inflate the prices.
Growth Timeline of SFarms India
2. KhetiGaadi
Founders – Pravin Shinde and Vishnu Dhas
Founded In – 2018
Headquarters – Pune
Total Funding Received – Bootstrapped
Khetigaadi.com Website
Founded by Pravin Shinde and Vishnu Dhas, Khetigaadi.com is the world’s first platform where one can buy, sell, rent, compare and review tractors and farm machinery, all with a simple click. It has been established to encourage farm mechanization and usage of technology and hi-tech products in agriculture to optimize yield in fewer man-hours.
Built on high-tech angular technology, the agritech company KhetiGaadi portal is as safe as any online banking portal. To make the platform user-friendly for the farmers, KhetiGaadi has made it available as an App in 10 languages and the company’s website can be viewed in 3 different languages, English, Hindi and Marathi. It is connected with 50 lac farmers.
The concept is techno-savvy and compatible with iOS as well as Android. They reached 5 Lac downloads in 2020 and more than 8 lac downloads as of 2022.
Khetigaadi’s GMV for 2021 was INR 500 Crore. As of 2022, this agritech startup is looking to raise funding & expected to triple the GMV to INR 1500 crore and INR 2500 Crore by 2023.
Growth Timeline of KhetiGaadi
3. Farm2Fam
Founder – Keya Salot
Founded In – 2019
Headquarters – Mumbai
Total Funding Received – NA
Farm2Fam Website
Farm2Fam is a Mumbai based startup which grows microgreens free from pesticides, herbicides and chemicals and delivers them straightly to the customer’s doorstep.
Farm2Fam aims to create awareness about the capacity of the human body to heal itself with natural nutrition. Their intention is to use technology in combination with traditional Indian agricultural methods to grow niche nutritional products.
Farm2Fam was founded in January 2019 by Keya Salot. She is a law graduate and worked with reputed law firms prior to starting Farm2Fam. This Microgreen-based agritech startup is soon going to partner with marquee brands like Pizza Express, Bay Route and White Charcoal. It sees itself in every household with a target of 300+ consumers per month.
Crofarm is an agricultural startup that was founded by Prashant Jain and Varun Khurana in May 2016 and is an F2B i.e. Farm to Business venture. Its platform has over 10,000 farmers on its network and has also partnered with Reliance Retail, Big Basket, Grofers, Big Bazar, Jubilant Foodworks and Metro Foods.
Crofarm generates revenue through commission. Starting from nearly 5% of the price in case of fewer perishables, like onions and potatoes, around 15% of the price of green vegetables, and 20-25% in case of fruits and exotics.
They procure products that have a longer shelf life from national sourcing zones and other products from regional sourcing zones. Crofarm is counted among one the leading agritech startups in India.
The company has also raised $1.5 million in seed funding from investors like Mukul Singhal and Rohit Jain, former Principals at SAIF Partners and recently raised $1 million from Smile Group for pre-series A round and entered B2B2C space with the launch of Otipy in 2020.
BOHECO – Bombay Hemp Company – is a Mumbai-based social enterprise founded in 2013 to research and promote industrial hemp. Their operations range from research, cultivation, harvesting, processing, manufacturing, trading, wholesaling, retailing, innovating, creating a market for and promoting Indian industrial hemp both across the country and around the world.
Bombay Hemp Company uses public-private partnership, contractual farming and processing, subsidiaries and collaborative research models with the aim to build an industrial hemp ecosystem.
Boheco is an agro-based startup that is reinventing the future of agriculture and sustainable living with hemp as its lens in India. The startup harnesses the power of agriculture by advocating industrial Hemp and its benefits to society.
They give assistance to local farmers in cultivating their crops by providing optimum seeds, best practices in cultivation techniques and innovating the Agro-products.
Aarav Unmanned Systems is a drone startup that manufactures unmanned aerial vehicles. It was incubated at IIT Kanpur with a team of designers, developers, artists, and engineers from IIT Kanpur, IIT Bombay, IISC Bangalore & IIST.
They aim to build the future of drones and their applications in the enterprise space. The company’s drones provide high-value engineering solutions to enterprises across geographic information system surveying/mapping, industrial inspection and precision agriculture. Thus, it holds the potential for making precision agriculture scalable in the nation, which is far behind in employing this type of technology.
They provide accurate 3D representations of the terrain surface and they can transform and change the way decisions are made in agriculture through their solutions to optimize irrigation, fertilization, pesticide distribution and early failure warnings. This Agritech Startup’s recent funding came in 2018 as a pre-series A round from GrowX Ventures, 500 Startups and Bellwether Advisors.
Aibono is founded by IIT Madras graduate Vivek as Airwood Aerostructures and rebranded as Aibono, which is a company that provides farming-related intelligence, technology, expertise and gadgets to farmers.
The startup advises farmers on the right amount of inputs to use for maximum yield. They began in the niche area of providing Farm Management-as-a-Service whereby, a farmer gets to outsource his entire measurement, production management and decision-making processes to a Service.
The agritech company has helped in increasing yields by nearly 50% for about 140 farmers. It works within the Nilgiri hills in Tamil Nadu. Precise day-to-day interventions to farmers are given by centrally managed Data Science and Recommendation Engines enabled by its data scientists and agronomists, which results in a 30 to 50% increase in yields.
Aibono recently raised $2 million in fresh capital from Rebright Partners and Mitsui Sumitomo Insurance Venture Capital taking its total funding to $5 Million.
Growth Timeline of Aibono
8. AgricxLab
Founder – Ritesh Dhoot, Saurabh Kumar
Founded In – 2010
Headquarters – Thane
Total Funding Received – $775k
AgricxLab is a Thane-based online B2B platform founded by Ritesh Dhoot and Saurabh Kumar for connecting cold storage owners with bulk buyers for agri-products. They use smartphone imaging to assess the quality of Agri-produce through its mobile app which uses artificial intelligence and computer vision to on images to yield objective, accurate and faster quality assessment of agri-produce.
Agricx offers solutions to warehouses and enterprise clients with a plan to expand across the food production supply chain. The startup has raised a total funding of $500K from various investors, including Ankur Capital.
Growth Timeline of AgricxLab
9. Cropin
Founder – Krishna Kumar
Founded In – 2010
Headquarters – Bengaluru
Total Funding Received – $32.6 million
Cropin Website
Cropin is an agritech startup that integrates the agricultural sector with Information and Communication Technology by putting a network of ERP and BI i.e. Business Intelligence across rural India.
It is a Full-Stack Agritech organization providing smart SaaS-based solutions to agritech businesses globally. Cropin collaborates with the different value chain participants along the supply chain to monitor the farm produce status closely.
They provide farm businesses a farm management software and a mobile app, which enables them to do connected and data-driven farming.
It allows farm businesses to take advantage of real-time data and insight from farms with the help of an accurate view of their operation throughout the growing season and to improve financial, operational and agronomy aspects.
Cropin uses cutting-edge technologies, Big Data analytics, Artificial Intelligence, Geo-tagging & Satellite monitoring to revolutionize the agri-ecosystem. This agriculture startup has raised a total of $32.7 Million in funding to date, with its recent Series C round in 2021 for $20 Million from ABC World Asia.
Growth Timeline of Cropin
10. Fasal
Founder – Shailendra Tiwari and Ananda Verma
Founded In – 2018
Headquarters – Bangalore
Total Funding Received – $9.9 million
Fasal Website
FASAL is a Bengaluru-based agritech platform founded by Ananda Verma and Shailendra Tiwari in 2018 which is developed by Wolkus Technology Solutions and is an AI-powered platform for the agricultural ecosystem.
It records a variety of growing conditions on the farm and then uses artificial intelligence and data science to make on-farm predictions, before delivering the insights anywhere on any device including Android, iOS, tablets and the web.
FASAL has saved close to 3 Billion Liters of freshwater to date. This agritech startup is on a course to the close FY21 with 1000 farms and 20, 000 acres of land under its purview. It is also looking to hit an annual revenue run rate of $1 million.
Growth Timeline of Fasal
11. Gold Farm
Agriculture Startup
Gold Farm
Founded In
2012
Headquarters
Bangalore
Founders
Abhilash Thirupathy
Investors
Mahindra Rise, Infuse Ventures, Intellecap
Founder – Abhilash Thirupathy
Founded In – 2012
Headquarters – Bangalore
Total Funding Received – $2.5 million
Gold Farm is a Bangalore-based agritech company founded in 2012 which is based on the mobile app to provide agriculture farm equipment through booking farm agents. It was founded by Abhilash Thirupathy.
They provide solar water pumps for agriculturist farming in power shortfall regions in our country. Gold Farm provides an opportunity door to the farmers to book farm equipment through the call service and mobile application.
Currently, Gold Farm runs over 250 booking agents and 500 tractor owners connected to their mobile app. They aim at enhancing the growth and sustainability of farmers by structuring productive ecosystems through innovation and technology. The startup has raised total funding of $3 million.
Ninjacart is one of the leading Bangalore-based agriculture supply chain companies in India. It was founded by Thirukumaran Nagarajanin 2015. It currently moves more than 60 tons of produce a day from farm to store in less than 14 hours at a lower than traditional supply chain.
Ninjacart helps more than 2,000 farmers to sell more than 80 vegetables and fruits every day to more than 800 retailers and restaurants in Bengaluru. They also claim to have wasted 4% wastage in the entire supply chain.
As of 2021, Ninjacart raised total funding of around $194.2 Million of which Flipkart and Walmart recently invested $30 Million in this agritech supply chain startup. Currently, Ninjacart is equipped to move 1400 tons of perishable from farms to businesses, every day, in less than 12 hours.
13. Waycool
Founder – Sanjay Dasari
Founded In – 2015
Headquarters – Bangalore
Total Funding Received – $221.5 million
Waycool Website
Waycool is India’s fastest-growingagricultural startup and food distribution company that has a network of 35,000 farmers across vegetables, fruits, rice, pulses and other food products.
It was established in July 2015 with the aim of fixing the disorganized perishable supply chain. They have a retail presence, currently present in Chennai through the brand SunnyBee, operating retail stores, mobile stores on trucks, as well as e-commerce.
They also have a large number of high-quality private label products that SunnyBee produces and brands through partnerships with sister companies.
Waycool has raised total funding of $64.9 Million, of which its recent funding came in 2021 from Lightbox Ventures ($32 Million – Series C), IndusInd Bank ($5.5 million – debt) and $7.8 Million came from Samunnati, RBL Bank and InnoVen Capital. Waycool is actively using 19 technologies for its website and has a $2 million estimated revenue annually.
Growth Timeline of Waycool
14. Intello Labs
Founder – Milan Sharma, Nishant Mishra, Himani Shah and Devendra Chandani
Founded In – 2016
Headquarters – Gurgaon
Total Funding Received – $13.7 million
Intello Labs Website
Intello Labs does a quality assessment of food commodities using computer vision and AI. Intello Labs help food businesses like growers, traders, retailers, food service companies, exporters, etc. to improve their customer satisfaction and cut down losses.
Intello Labs reports being aggressively growing in India while also pursuing global markets, including the likes of China, Southeast Asia, and the USA. Some of Intello Labs’ larger clients include Reliance Fresh, Dole, Ocean Spray, and many of the leading e- grocery companies in China and Southeast Asia. In 2020, Intello Labs raised $5.9 million, which is approximately Rs 45 crore, in Series A funding led by Saama Capital.
Growth Timeline of Intello Labs
15. Agrowave
Founder – Anu Meena
Founded In – 2017
Headquarters – Delhi
Total Funding Received – $2.6 million
Agrowave Website
Founded by Anu Meena, Agrowave is an Agritech company that aims at helping farmers by directly connecting them to businesses and constructing sustainable supply chain management.
It has built several pick-up stations for farmers where they can load their products and that they don’t have to travel very far to sell them. It has a mobile app running on IOs and Android, where farmers sell their produce, the delivery trucks pick up the produce from farmer gates and pick-up stations and allow hassle-free payments. This produce is then delivered through systematic route mapping to the end customers.
Anu Meena, alumni of Delhi IIT, conceived this brainchild after witnessing the struggles and challenges of her grandfather back in Rajasthan who happens to be a farmer himself. She aims at simplifying business for farmers all over by eliminating middlemen and giving farmers the best price for their produce.
Growth Timeline of Agrowave
16. BharatAgri
Founder – Sai Gole, Siddharth Dialani
Founded In – 2017
Headquarters – Pune
Total Funding Received – $21 million
BharatAgri Website
BharatAgri is a personalized service where farmers are educated about the crop they’re planning to plant and provides complete guidance and expertise on how to grow it.
The service includes expertise on pesticides and critical advisory on weather and soil analysis. It ensures maximum yield on production with timely analysis of production costs.
BharatAgri lends support at every stage of farming through offline and online technology including In-App chat support, Interactive voice response (IVR), and Whatsapp.
Co-founders Sai Gole and Siddharth Dialani quit their high-paying jobs in 2017 to learn about the challenges that farmers face and lived in a village near Pune to understand and implement their IIT learning experience into practice and find solutions to farmers’ woes.
With a farmer base of 3000 onboard, the agritech startup has now shifted to the B2F (Business to Farmer) model, so that they can provide better services to farmers needing technical help through digital farming.
Growth Timeline of BharatAgri
17. BigHaat
Founder – Satish Nukala, Sachin Nandwana
Founded In – 2015
Headquarters – Bangalore
Total Funding Received – $16.1 million
BigHaat Website
BigHaat is an Agri input and digital marketplace for farmers who seek guidance and information on various aspects of farming. The company has a wide range of services and products such as advisory services related to crop nutrition and farming, products such as seeds, agricultural machinery, and much more.
It has also built an Agri platform in collaboration with Microsoft, called Kisan Vedika which addresses issues and queries through experts in regional languages. BigHaat’s marketing team works both offline and online to acquire a customer base.
In addition to this, they offer a support channel that is also available for any queries. The farmers have to give a missed call on the designated number and the Agri expert will revert with the necessary guidance.
Founded in 2015 by Satish Nukala and Sachin Nandwana, BigHaat boasts about providing Agri advisor services and products to 4 million farmers in the country. BigHaat has raised 2 million in its latest funding series through investors such as Ankur Capital, Rockstud Capital, and Beyond Next Ventures.
Growth Timeline of BigHaat
18. Bijak
Founder – Nikhil Tripathi, Mahesh Jakhotia, Nakul Upadhye, Jitender Bedwal, Daya Rai
Founded In – 2019
Headquarters – Gurugram
Total Funding Received – $33.9 million
Bijak Website
Bijak is an Agri commodities exchange platform that aims to bridge the gap between buyers and sellers. It also acts as a bookkeeping app that helps you keep all transactions and related documents on your phone.
Bijak helps buyers with quick loan disbursals and immediate payments to suppliers, with real-time, hassle-free payments. It is spread over 27 cities and union territories and covers more than 100 agricultural commodities on its platform.
The B2B platform was founded in 2019 by a team of five: Nikhil Tripathi, Mahesh Jakhotia, Nakul Upadhye, Jitender Bedwal, and Daya Rai. It has raised close to $33.9 million in funding. The ambitious startup aims at providing buyers and sellers with considerable working capital and improved logistics.
Growth Timeline of Bijak
19. Clover Ventures
Founder – Arvind M, Avinash B R, Gururaj S Rao, Santosh Narasipura
Founded In – 2012
Headquarters – Bangalore
Total Funding Received – $14.6 million
Clover Venture Website
Clover Ventures is a Bangalore-based agritech company that deals in the creation and management of farm networks in Karnataka, Telangana, and Andhra Pradesh. It aims at tapping several agricultural roadblocks faced by farmers such as complex and inefficient supply chain, consistency and quality issues, and lack of stable backend supply.
It aims at creating and solidifying an organized supply chain for fresh produce. The company currently manages over 70 acres of farmland and provides fresh produce to various fine dines, Retail stores, food processors, and online Internet Kitchens.
The logo with four leaves of the clover represents Arvind M, Avinash B R, Gururaj S Rao, and Santosh Narasipura, the co-founders of the company. The core functions of the company work on the model of the demand-backed supply chain for perishables. The key focus is on the quality of the produce, consistency, and traceability. The B2B company is about to launch a B2C service out of Bangalore and Hyderabad this year.
Ergos is one of the best agritech companies in India that facilitates storage for food grains and provides digitized solutions for the management of the same. Indian farmers who lack storage capacity often face grain loss in quantity and deterioration of quality and this leads to selling their produce at lower prices.
Ergos helps them store their grains in their “Grain bank” and facilitates loans and supply chain management through networks with NBFCs and Banks. Farmers can always withdraw their produce, even a single bag of grains, at their disposal.
The Patna-based startup was founded in 2012 by Kishor Jha, Priyanka Kumari, and Praveen Kumar. Ergos claims to support 25000 farmers so far and aims to extend its footprint outside Bihar by setting up 500-600 new grain Banks across various states. The company raised INR 81 crore in its recent funding round and is assertive in building better post-harvest and supply chain management.
Growth Timeline of Ergos
21. FreshoKartz
Founder – Rajendra Lora, Nagendra Yadav
Founded In – 2016
Headquarters – Jaipur
Total Funding Received – $1.6 million
FreshoKartz Website
FreshoKartz is an eCommerce marketplace for farm-fresh produce, based in Jaipur Rajasthan. It offers various services such as soil advisory and products such as pesticides, seeds, fertilizers, etc for farmers.
The company works on the on-demand procurement of fresh farm produce and helps farmers avail themselves right prices. FreshoKartz offers transparent weighing and immediate payment of the produce. It also offers financing facilities for farmers during the harvesting season.
Founded in 2016 by Rajendra Lora and Nagendra Yadav, FreshoKartz is funded by iStart, an incubator run by the Rajasthan Government to support startups. Recognized by the government early on, the company has been provided with a co-working space and the best knowledge imparting mentors in the Agritech industry.
These mentors help the company find VCs and angel investors. The company has also been awarded the Bamasaha techno fund worth INR 20 lakhs and a marketing fund worth INR 10 lakhs.
FreshoKartz aims at eliminating middlemen in the process of selling fresh produce directly from the farmers to other businesses. Their B2B clientele so far includes ITC hotels, Hilton Jaipur, and several other commercial kitchens in Jaipur.
Growth Timeline of FreshoKartz
22. MeraKisan
Founder – Prashant Patil
Founded In – 2014
Headquarters – Pune
Total Funding Received – $1 million
MeraKisan Website
MeraKisan is an online marketplace for a wide range of freshly produced farm products. The farm-to-fork company aims to support local farmers by providing seasonal and regional fruits and vegetables directly to consumers. Its products range from pulses and cereals to exotic and seasonal vegetables along with superfoods and organic cooking oils.
The company recently launched its own range of handcrafted juices, smoothies, salads, and refreshments under the brand Saboro Lounge. It also provides end-to-end soil advisory and other farming facilities.
MeraKisan was roped in by a joint venture between Mahindra Univeg Pvt. Ltd and Belgium-based Univeg (Greenyard Foods). Prashant Patil, the founder of MeraKisan is an IT engineer by profession and started operating in 2014.
Patil, through a fresh issue of shares, holds 66% of MeraKisan Pvt. Ltd. The company claims to have more than 500 sellers on its website. In March 2020, the Mahindra-backed company found a new investor in Ajinkya Rahane, the vice-captain of the Indian Test Cricket team.
Growth Timeline of MeraKisan
Conclusion
This was our list of best agricultural startups in India. Hope this helps you in building your own agritech business. If you know any great agriculture startup which we should feature, please mention it in the comment.
FAQs
What is an agritech startup?
An agritech startup is a startup that uses technology in the field of agriculture to help farmers.
How many agritech startups are in India?
There are nearly 1400 agritech startups in India.
What are some of the top agritech startups in India?
SFarmsIndia, KhetiGaadi, FarmtoFarm, Fasal, Ninjacart, and BharatAgri are some of the leading agritech startups in India.
AI is a broad word that refers to a variety of electronic systems. When someone talks about AI, they could be talking about anything from neural network-powered face recognition to machine learning that predicts the ideal phrase to use in an email subject line. With a slew of innovative startups entering the space, India’s AI ecosystem is exploding.
In the last four years, Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning have experienced a massive increase in funding and invention. Industry, medical, apparel, agribusiness, estate development, speech services, and other industries are now using them. India is currently a country with a solid ecosystem that allows AI startup professionals and entrepreneurs to kick-start their enterprises, thanks to the phenomenal expansion of the AI field.
Revenues From the AI Software Market Worldwide From 2018 to 2025
In 2021, global spending on cognitive systems and AI services was $57.6 billion. Between 2022 and 2030, AI adoption by organizations to be at a CAGR of 38.1% globally.
To improve AI, IoT, data analytics, information security, data science, and robotics, the Indian government upped its investment in Digital India to $477 million. Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced in the 2019 Union Budget that the country would provide manufacturing training programs in technologies such as AI, Big Data, and robotics to 10 million Indian youngsters.
AI-enabled companies have enhanced every part of life, from medical to agribusiness, boosting the rise of AI companies in India. Let’s take a look at the 10 Indian AI Startups that are dominating the market.
Avaamo Technologies Private Limited is a private company founded on June 25, 2014, but not publicly traded. Its headquarters is in Bangalore, Karnataka. It has INR 1,00,000 in authorized share capital and INR 1,00,000 in total paid-up capital. Avaamo is a cloud service that automates the lifetime of Communicative AI. It is a deep-learning software firm focused on speech recognition to solve specific, increased enterprise problems. Avaamo is developing core AI technologies in areas such as neural networks, speech synthesis, and deep learning to make interactive computing for the industry a reality.
Qure.ai was established in 2016 by Pooja Rao and Prashant Warier. The company aims to make healthcare more accessible and affordable by using Ai. Qure.ai uses Machine Learning or convolutional neural networks to construct programs that detect illness patterns from medical photos. The Machine Learning algorithms developed by Qure.ai are delivered as code and used with any X-ray, CT scan, or MRI machine. This aid in the classification of radiography pictures as healthy or unhealthy, the diagnosis of disease, and the identification of defects that could otherwise go unnoticed. The revenue yield for Qure.ai in 2021 was $3.6 million.
Wysa
Wysa | Indian Startups Leading AI Race
Touchkin eServices, Aggarwal’s startup, created Wysa 2016, an AI-powered mental health app. Touchkin eServices has offices in Bangalore, Boston, and London. Wysa is primarily for individuals who simply want to express themselves. The founder claims that the majority of Wysa users are there to better their sleeping, anxiousness, or relations. According to Aggarwal, Wysa isn’t meant to be a substitute, but rather an extra tool with which a user can interact on a routine basis. The revenue yield for Wysa in 2021 was $4.56 million.
Yellow.ai
Yellow.ai | Indian Startups Leading AI Race
Yellow.ai is a conversational AI solution that helps businesses automate customer encounters, created by Raghu Ravintala, Jaya Kishore Gollareddy, and Rashid Khan in 2016. Sephora, Bharat Petroleum, and FoodPanda are just a few of Yellow.ai’s clients. By implementing a multichannel chatbot in 100+ languages, businesses can now self-serve 80% of inquiries and boost CSAT by 20%. Yellow.ai and Microsoft teamed up earlier this year to modernize their speech automation service using Azure AI Speech Services and Natural Language Processing (NLP) tools.
Intello Labs has created technological services that analyze and evaluate the grade of vegetables and fruits using AI capabilities such as computer vision and machine learning. It was founded by Devendra Chandani, Nishant Mishra, Milan Sharma and Himani Shah in 2016. It has many big names as its clients: Reliance Fresh, Dole, and Ocean Spray. The company claims that their technology reduces the amount of food loss by digitalizing the quality control process of fruits and vegetables. It is to create an efficient production line, making it less wasteful. Intello Labs’ yearly yield in 2021 was $18 million.
CropIn
Cropin | Indian Startups Leading AI Race
CropIn is a prominent AI and data-driven agri-tech company that uses machine learning to give SaaS solutions to agricultural producers. It was founded in 2010 by Krishna Kumar in Karnataka to solve the problems local farmers face, such as non-availability of finance, climatic vagaries, soil degradation, pest infestation and diseases, operational inefficiencies, and no predictability of yield. The revenue yield for CropIn in 2021 was $27 million.
Bash.ai
Bash.ai | Indian Startups Leading AI Race
BASH.ai is an interactive chatbot that uses Machine Learning Models to help employees work more efficiently. It was founded in 2017 by Barkha Sharma and Tanay Dixit in New Delhi-NCR. It uses a rule-based AI-powered bot to imitate cognitive activities relevant to the HR function, leading to greater workplace efficiency. Simply put, a regulation bot can assist employees in obtaining information efficiently through a conversational interface. It allows the HR department to concentrate on crucial responsibilities rather than repeating jobs and general requests.
Myelin Foundry
Myelin Foundry | Indian Startups Leading AI Race
Myelin Foundry develops Artificial Intelligence algorithms on video, voice, and sensor data for edge devices. It was founded in 2019 by Aditi Olemann, Ganesh Suryanarayanan, and Gopichand Katragadda in Bengaluru, Karnataka. Myelin Foundry’s deep tech solution transforms sensory interactions and industry outcomes using Machine Learning techniques on sensor data, speech, and video collected from edge devices. It also provides super HD zero-buffering broadcasting over any channel, reducing time and expense to market even more. The revenue yield for Myelin Foundry in 2021 was approx. $1 million.
Niki is a Bangalore, Karnataka-based artificial intelligence business. Sachin Jaiswal, Keshav Prawasi, Shishir Modi, and Nitin Babel, all IIT Kharagpur alumni, formed the company in May 2015. Niki is a chatbot driven by artificial intelligence that serves as an intelligent personal assistant. Niki provides customers with a chat-based natural language user interface where they may engage with Niki in their language using natural language processing and machine learning. Niki learns how Indian consumers communicate, deciphers the words in the perspective of services and products they want to buy, and makes appropriate recommendations. It was once only accessible as a mobile app on the Android platform. The business has now extended to include the Facebook Messenger and Apple iOS platforms. The revenue yield for Nikki.ai in 2021 was approx. $25 million.
SigTuple
SigTuple | Indian Startups Leading AI Race
SigTuple uses cutting-edge machine-learning algorithms to create intelligent medical diagnosis solutions. It was founded in 2015 by Apurv Anand, Bharath Cheluvaraju, Rohit Pandey, and Tathagato Dastidar in Bengaluru, Karnataka. The business is developing Manthana, an AI system that will aid in the analysis of visual medical data. SigTuple can now function on five main high-volume screening procedures in the healthcare sector: peripheral blood smears analysis, urine microscopy, semen, fundus, and OCT scans, and chest x-rays, due to Manthana.
Conclusion
In India, artificial intelligence has a bright future. By 2035, AI can add $957 billion to the Indian economy, or 15% of its current gross value. Power, retail, manufacturing, medical, education, and agribusiness can all benefit from AI. These startups have changed the Indian Market and created many new job opportunities for Indian youngsters.
FAQs
Is AI a good career in India?
Artificial Intelligence salaries in India are significantly higher than the national average for most AI job categories.
Is AI in demand in India?
Yes, top nano degree programs in deep learning and data engineering demonstrate the country’s growing interest in AI and data.
What are the advantages of AI?
AI allows previously complicated activities to finish without incurring huge costs. AI is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week, with no delay. AI improves the talents of people with varied abilities.
Which country is leading the AI race?
The United States is leading the AI race, followed by China and the European Union.
Which are the Startups leading the AI Race in India?
