India’s agrifood startups have closed a record-breaking $4.6B funding in FY22
- ByStartupStory | December 1, 2022
Indian agrifood tech sector has seen an increasing number of VCs betting on its potential despite the pandemic and economic slowdown. According to AgFunder and Omnivore’s fourth India AgriFood Startup Investment Report, India has surpassed China as Asia-Pacific’s biggest funder of agrifood tech innovation, attracting record levels of investment in the fiscal year April 2021 to March 2022. The increasing volume of deals, the average round sizes have also increased significantly across all funding stages, with the overall investment volume up by 119% to $4.6 billion in the fiscal year ending March 31, 2022. The number of deals has jumped to 234 in FY22, compared with 189 deals in the previous fiscal.
Michael Dean, Founding Partner, AgFunder, said, “India has always been a leading agrifood tech ecosystem, ever since AgFunder and Omnivore started in the early 2010s but to see investment levels surpass all other countries in the Asia-Pacific region and compete on the global stage is indicative of the impressive range and depth of innovations coming from the country and potential to impact the agrifood industry as a whole.”
According to the report, downstream startups have been able to raise $3.8 billion in FY2022—a 115% increase from $1.77 billion in FY2021. Swiggy is responsible for this growth and its involvement has raised $1.2 billion, accounting for 26% of total investment in the agrifoodtech space. On the other hand, upstream investment leaped 300% to $1.2 billion up from $312 million. The participation of generalist VCs, bigger deal sizes, and higher deal count contributed to this increase, the report states.
Farmtech startups closed $1.5 billion in funding, a 185% surge on the $527 million raised in FY21. Restaurant marketplace and e-grocery received most funds in the downstream categories, accounting for 84% of total downstream funding with e-grocery startups landing the highest number of late-stage deals. E-grocery startups raised $934 million across 42 deals, a 4X jump from $244 million across 25 deals in FY21. Investment in online restaurants and meal kits saw a remarkable recovery at $301 million in FY22, almost 4X more than $64 million in FY21. The premium branded food and restaurants category saw a marginal 9% increase in funding. Agribusiness marketplaces surpassed midstream technologies to become the most funded upstream category in FY2022. The former was able to raise $569 million in FY2022, a 7X jump from the $86 million raised in FY2021.
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