November 2, 2021

By Lynda Kiernan-Stone, Global AgInvesting Media

Not even a year after raising $30 million led by Prosus Ventures, online end-to-end agribusiness services platform DeHaat has closed on the largest agtech funding round in India, securing a $115 million Series D. 

Led by Belgium-based Sofina and Lightrock India, Temasek also was a co-investor in this round along with existing investors Prosus, RTP Capital , Sequoia Capital India, and FMO, with Dexter Capital and Vertices Partners acting as advisors.

“At DeHaat, we are on a mission of building the world’s largest Agritech platform,” said Shashank Kumar, co-founder, CEO, DeHaat. “We have raised US$157 million from marquee investors in the last 30 months and our team has grown to a brigade of 850+ professionals with deep expertise in growth & strategy, supply chain, technology & agricultural science. Last 7 months have been phenomenal with 5X growth for DeHaat. We are now well positioned to replicate the success in all major agriculture clusters of India in next 12-15 months.”

India is a top global producer of many agricultural products – producing 81.285 metric tons of fruit and 162.187 metric tons of vegetables, or approximately 14 percent of the global supply – according to the research article Scope of Supply Chain Management in Fruits and Vegetables in India, published in the Journal of Food Processing & Technology.  However, due to inefficiencies throughout the country’s supply chain, India sees food waste of up to 67 million tons each year – more than the total food production of Great Britain, according to Zee News.

Often in the agricultural investment field, challenges are seen as opportunities for innovation and return on investment – and increasingly, investors are seeing these inefficiencies in India’s supply chain as a means to not only have a positive social impact, but as a path to positive returns.

Founded in 2012 by Amrendra Singh, Shyam Sundar, Adarsh Srivastav, and Shashank Kumar – alumni of IIT Delhi, IIT Kharagpur, IIM Ahmedabad, and other top institutes – DeHaat (which means “village” in Hindi) is one of agtech’s fastest-growing startups and one of the few offering a full-stack, end-to-end platform of agricultural services through its digitized network of 650,000 farmers and more than 3,000 micro-entrepreneurs for last-mile delivery and aggregation.

With intentions to drive efficiency and transparency in this $350 billion industry, DeHaat uses AI technologies to revolutionize supply chains and production efficiency in India’s farming sector by connecting India’s farmers to an array of more than 850 agribusinesses including buyers, feed producers, financiers, storage and warehouse companies, and input sellers.

To accomplish this, DeHaat offers access to thousands of agricultural inputs and AI-driven customized crop advisory for pest and disease management delivered via mobile app and call centers. It also aggregates corn, wheat, rice, bajra, fruits, and vegetables from farmers connected to its network, supplying to commodity bulk buyers that include retail chains, FMCG giants, SME food processors, and e-commerce players. The company has also developed web and mobile interfaces in the form of a helpline and a multi-language app, that deliver 100 percent transparency to farmers in regard to both input companies and bulk agricultural buyers.

Earlier in 2021 DeHaat acquired Farm Guide, a company providing insights based on satellite technology, at the same time expanding its tech team to 120 people. 

“We have been following DeHaat’s progress through the years and are impressed with their steep growth trajectory combined with a strong network of micro-entrepreneurs,” said Vaidhehi Ravindran, partner, Lightrock India. “Through innovative social engineering and tech-led execution, DeHaat has built largest first-mile network for farmers and is well-positioned to help transform agriculture by improving yields and farmer income.”

Sofina has also been tracking DeHaat, determining that the startup is on course to open new windows of opportunity for not only India’s farmers, but all agribusinesses involved in the supply chain.

“Through our due diligence, we became convinced that DeHaat is bringing substantial value-add to the farming community in India,” said Yana Kachurina, principal, Sofina. “The uniqueness of its full-stack approach combined with ‘phygital’ go-to-market strategy further reaffirmed our view that the company is on track to become a significant player in the farming industry in India.”

– Lynda Kiernan-Stone is editor with GAI Media, and is managing editor and daily contributor for Global AgInvesting’s AgInvesting Weekly News and  Agtech Intel News, as well as HighQuest Group’s Oilseed & Grain News. She can be reached at lkiernan-stone@globalaginvesting.com.