Funding Alert

Agritech startup AgroStar bags $70 million in new funds for expansion

• ByStartupStory     |    December 10, 2021

Agritech startup AgroStar has raised USD 70 million (around Rs 527 crore) from Evolvence, Schroders Capital, Hero Enterprise and UK’s development finance institution CDC to expand its business across India and future growth, its founder and CEO Shardul Seth said on Tuesday.

The round also saw participation from existing investors Aavishkaar Capital, Accel, Bertelsmann, Chiratae Ventures, and Rabo Frontier Ventures.

“We have raised USD 70 million in Series D funding round from new as well as existing investors,” Seth said.

He declined to share the valuation at which the fund has been raised.

Pune-based AgroStar, which was founded in 2013 by Sitanshu Sheth and Shardul Sheth, provides real-time farm advisory free of cost through its tech platform to farmers across India.

It also provides agri-inputs to farmers across Gujarat, Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, and Uttar Pradesh through its 1,000 franchisee stores as well as delivery partners in rural centers.

AgroStar has ramped up its brand stores from 50 to over 1,000 stores in the last twelve months, the release said.

“We are now doubling down on our omnichannel strategy to provide a seamless experience to our farmers across various touchpoints both digital and physical. We plan to utilise the funding to strengthen our tech platform, hire senior talent, expand into new categories, geographies and scale to over 5,000 AgroStar branded retail stores to fuel our omnichannel strategy,” Shardul Sheth, cofounder, and CEO, AgroStar. “We will also expand our services to provide market linkage value additions for our farmer base and we will look at acquisition opportunities in this area.”

“AgroStar’s business model addresses the service gap in the Agri space by building the largest tech-enabled omnichannel platform that enables farmers to access knowledge and buy quality products across s channels,” said Abhishek Chandra, managing director of Evolvence India.

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