[Funding alert] Agritech platform DeHaat raises $12M in Series A led by Sequoia Capital

Gurugram and Patna-based agritech platform DeHaat has raised Series A funding of $12 million led by Sequoia Capital. The round saw participation from FMO, the Dutch entrepreneurial development bank, and existing investors Omnivore and AgFunder. 

The platform will use some of the new funding to automate its supply chain and build the next layer of data analytics to drive further supply chain efficiency.  

DeHaat had earlier raised a $4 million pre-Series A round in March 2019, led by Omnivore and AgFunder, which was topped up in May 2019 with an additional $3 million of venture debt from Trifecta Capital. Dexter capital was the exclusive advisor for this funding round. 

Shashank Kumar, Co-Founder and CEO of DeHaat, said:

“We are excited to partner with Sequoia India and FMO as we drive towards one million farmers on the DeHaat platform. Sequoia’s deep expertise in B2B platforms and technology products, combined with FMO’s expertise in agricultural value chain financing, will help DeHaat accelerate its growth while delivering massive impact for the farmers we work with.” 

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This agritech startup founded by IIT Delhi alumnus is serving over 55,000 farmers in Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, and Odisha

Founded in 2012 by Shashank and IIT Kharagpur alumnus Manish Kumar. Today, Manish is no longer part of DeHaat. Later IIT, IIM, and NIT alumni Amrendra Singh, Adarsh Srivastav, Shyam Sundar Singh, and Abhishek Dokania, joined as a part of the founding team.

DeHaat is a technology-based platform offering full-stack agricultural services to farmers, including distribution of high quality agri inputs, customised farm advisory, access to financial services, and market linkages for selling their produce.

Jaap Reinking, Director, Private Equity at FMO, said: “Increasing economic uncertainty due to the COVID-19 pandemic is a grave concern to all. Especially in these challenging times, it is important to continue our support for innovative businesses in emerging markets, and focus on accelerating sustainable development. That is why we are proud to announce our partnership with DeHaat through the FMO Ventures Program. We look forward to supporting this Indian agri-tech platform with our expertise in agricultural value chain financing and rural development programmes.”

The team sais its annual revenue has grown by 3.5x since March last year. The team plans to scale up to 2,000 rural retail centres for last-mile delivery and produce aggregation, and bring one million farmers on the network by 2021.  

Currently serving over 210,000 farmers across Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand, and Odisha, DeHaat provides access to over 3,000 agricultural inputs, combined with AI-based customised crop advisory content of pest and disease management for major crops delivered via mobile app and call centres.

Abhishek Mohan, VP, Sequoia Capital India LLP, said, “Indian agriculture is a $350 billion industry powered by close to 100 million small and independent farmers. This industry is on the brink of a massive transformation with ease of regulation, famers getting organised and increasing smart phone penetration, and DeHaat is leveraging these trends to build the next-gen product in agricultural supply chain. The tipping point that led to Sequoia India’s decision to partner with them was the field visit, where the farmers expressed how proud they were to be associated with a platform they felt truly worked in their favour. This impact and deep brand loyalty stems from the leadership team’s razor-sharp focus, deep empathy, and fine execution."

The platform also aggregates corn, wheat, rice, fruits, and vegetables from farmers on their network, and directly supplies to over 200 commodity bulk buyers, including retail chains, e-commerce players, FMCG giants, and SME food processors.

(Edited by Teja Lele Desai)