Agri-tech firm FarmLink raises Rs 20 cr seed funding

Firm offers its farmers secured income with long-term off-take agreements and support to improve productivity and quality

FarmLink, a fruit and vegetable (F&V) supply-chain company, has raised seed stage funding of Rs 20 crore ($3 million) from Pioneering Ventures and Syngenta.

The agri-tech company plans to use this capital to expand its geographical reach and strengthen its technology and analytics capabilities in the supply chain.

The company offers its farmers secured income, based on long-term off-take agreements and all-round support to improve productivity and quality.

FarmLink procures fruits and vegetables directly from their farmers through a network of collection and service centres with world-class infrastructure and delivers the produce to industrial scale off-takers such as big retail stores, hotel-restaurant-cafe (HORECA) chains, industrial processors and emerging e-commerce food platforms.

The company offers various value add processing services and a full assortment of ‘ready-to-retail’, customer-friendly products.

It is also in the final stages of implementing ‘FarmTrace’, a proprietary B2C consumer traceability App, that among other functionalities, can track the product from farm to shelf allowing customers and consumers to get transparent insight into when, where, and how the food was grown.

By restructuring the supply chain, the company brings efficiency in delivery from farm to fork which results in minimum wastage of the produce and ensures better pricing for the farmers.

“India’s agriculture is facing serious challenges such as low yield and enormous wastage across the value chain. FarmLink attempts to address these challenges by fundamentally transforming and modernizing critical stages of the entire supply chain. We are excited to partner with the company on this journey,” said Akshaya Kamath, Director - Pioneering Ventures India.

Currently, FarmLink procures more than 20 tonnes of food and vegetables per day through its multiple collection centres across Karnataka, Telangana and Maharashtra. The produce is supplied to company’s primary markets in Mumbai and Bengaluru where it has off-take agreements with large multi-national and retail franchises such as Star Bazaar and Vista Processed Foods.

“We aim to transform the way fresh produce is grown and distributed in the India by introducing global best practices. In parallel, we empower the farmers by providing knowledge & extension services such agriculture credit, crop insurance and warehousing. We ensure regular and secured income for the farmers with long-term off-take agreements”, said Sreeram Chellappa, chief operating officer at FarmLink.