News in brief:
– SBI Foundation and Villgro have invested in nine agricultural startups through their Innovators for Bharat program.
– The startups will receive equity seed funding and incubation support to develop solutions addressing agricultural challenges in India, such as post-harvest losses and climate change.
SBI Foundation and Villgro have revealed a funding portfolio that will invest in nine agricultural startups. Called the Innovators for Bharat, it is part of the foundation’s LEAP program that is addressing India’s most crucial agricultural roadblocks.
According to one news report on the story, the collaboration will be offering beneficiaries equity seed funding. Both parties had reached the agreement last September and Villgro’s press statement adds that the program will ‘provide incubation support to startups to create pan-India impact on agricultural livelihoods and make smallholder farmers resilient to climate change’.
However, eligible startups are either in their growth state or already have a minimum viable product (MVP); a product with enough features to attract customers willing to try something new.
The selected beneficiaries are:
- Bharat Rohan, which uses drone-based hyperspectral imagery to offer farm advisory, optimising soil health, yields, and profitability.
- RAAV Techlabs, which offers near-infrared technology devices for objective testing of quality parameters in produce, thereby reducing food losses.
- Navork Innovations, which is solving post-harvest losses with a plant extract-based formulation that extends the shelf life of highly perishable produce like mushrooms and bananas.
- Marut Drones, which provides drones and software for multiple farming services, including spraying, direct seeding, crop health monitoring, and advisory.
- GreyMatter (Upaz), which supplies farmers with high-quality inputs and affordable credit using a Community Commerce and Financing Model integrating microfinance and services across the agriculture value chain.
- Carbon Masters, which implements a circular economy solution converting organic waste into Bio-CNG and organic fertilisers.
- Raheja Solar, which manufactures renewable energy-based solar dryers to reduce post-harvest losses and processes and sells its own dried food using produce bought back from farmers.
- Ekosight, which provides a portable soil testing device for assessing soil quality and offering accurate advice on fertiliser needs for enhancing precision farming.
- Pasidi Panta, which develops an end-to-end commodity value chain service for farmers, focusing on residue-free chili production using Integrated Pest Management.
The initiative also welcomes beneficiaries into ecosystem events and help market them across various channels to rasie awareness about the solution that they are proposing.
In all, the partners hope to impact 10,000 farmers by increasing their livelihoods and incomes. Also, it is aiming to convert about 60,000 acres to sustainable practices while reducing CO2 emissions by 15,000 tonnes.
