Agritech startup AGRIM raised $10 million in a Series A round of funding led by Kalaari Capital, with participation from existing investors Omnivore, India Quotient, and Accion Venture Labs. Axis Bank also joined the round as part of their Bharat Banking initiative.
The Gurugram-based startup plans to use this funding for talent acquisition, embedded fintech product development, and scaling up operations.
Vamshi Krishna Reddy, Partner at Kalaari Capital, said, “AGRIM’s goal of building a strong, tech-enabled ecosystem for small retailers of crucial agricultural supplies can transform the way agri-inputs are sourced across the country while ensuring better quality and access to products for agri-based communities.”
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Mukul Garg, Co-founder and CEO of AGRIM, said, “In the last 15 months, we have achieved product-market fit. This investment will help us expand exponentially into new categories and geographies. Given the unit-level profitability, most funds will be used to bring rock stars onboard and launch embedded fintech services for our retailers.”
Founded in 2020 by Mukul Garg and Avi Jain, AGRIM is building a digital platform for the agri-inputs industry by connecting retailers directly with manufacturers and providing all parties with solutions for distribution, credit, logistics, and marketing.
It claims that rural agri-input retailers grapple with a limited assortment of goods, poor availability, opaque pricing, spurious product quality, and the high cost of working capital. At the same time, agri-input manufacturers struggle to grow their businesses, increase the penetration of their products across geographies, manage working capital, and optimize logistics.
This is where AGRIM's platform aims to bring seamless connectivity between the two parties. It works with multiple categories including seeds, fertilisers, crop protection, animal nutrition, and farm implements. The startup claims to be present across 500 districts, connected with 2,500 manufacturers, and 170,000 retailers
Going forward, it expects to clock annualised GMV (gross merchandising value) of $100 million in 2022, and plans to increase stock-keeping units by 10X, to reach 250,000 SKUs across agri-input categories.
Edited by Saheli Sen Gupta