Agritech startup AgroStar raises $27M in Series C funding led by Bertelsmann India

Pune-based agritech startup AgroStar has raised $27 million in a Series C funding round led by Bertelsmann India. The funding round also saw the participation of existing investors Accel, Chirate Ventures and Aavishkar Bharat Fund.

The funds raised will be used to scale up AgroStar's operations and strengthen its technology platform.

Started in 2013 by brothers Shardul and Sitanshu Sheth, AgroStar is a direct-to-farmer digital app that enables farmers to procure high quality agricultural inputs at a fair price. Farmers can also procure agricultural goods by giving a missed call on the company’s 1800-based number.

The company has partnered with several leading national and multinational agriculture products brands to sell their products through AgroStar. Farmers can buy seeds, nutrients, crop protection, as well as hardware products from the AgroStar platform and app.

Shardul Sheth, CEO and Co-Founder, AgroStar said, “Our agri input focused commerce platform and tech-enabled agronomy solutions are addressing key challenges faced by the Indian farmer and making farming more profitable and sustainable for them. As we scale our operations, we are fortunate to have Bertelsmann India Investments lead our Series C investment round along with participation from all our existing investors backing us in our mission of #HelpingFarmersWin."

He added the company will increase its investment in data science, and strengthen its technology capabilities to provide better real-time and relevant information to farmers across the country.

AgroStar currently operates in Maharashtra, Gujarat and Rajasthan, and plans to expand its operations to more states. It claims to have achieved over a million downloads for its app, and aims to scale it up to 10 million beneficiaries in the next couple of years.

“We are very excited to partner AgroStar. Shardul and Sitanshu bring deep domain knowledge along with exceptional execution capabilities. We feel privileged to join a journey that has the potential to have a deep positive impact at grassroot levels while building a large and valuable business,” said Pankaj Makkar, Managing Director of Bertelsmann India Investments.

With this investment, AgroStar has raised a total of $41 million. The company had raised Series B round of funding in March 2017 led by Accel Partners with participation from Chirate Ventures (then IDG Ventures) and Aavishkar Bharat Fund.

Also read: Agri startups are bringing in IoT, BigData and equipment to farmers and revolutionising the sector