[Funding alert] Greenhouse agritech startup Clover raises Rs 7 Cr in debt from Alteria Capital

Bengaluru-based greenhouse agritech startup Clover on Tuesday announced that it has raised Rs 7 crore in venture debt from Alteria Capital. 

The current funding is on top of the Rs 39 crore ($5.5 million) raised in the Series A round from Accel, Omnivore, and Mayfield announced in February 2020. Clover partners with farmers across India and markets premium quality, branded, greenhouse-grown fresh produce through B2B and B2C channels. 

According to Avinash BR, Co-founder of Clover, “The recently closed Series A round alongside Alteria's current investment, will help us achieve our vision to reshape the supply chain for greenhouse-grown fresh produce.” 

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[Funding alert] Agritech startup Clover raises $5.5M in Series A from Omnivore, Accel, and Mayfield

Founded by Avinash BR, Gururaj Rao, Arvind Murali, and Santhosh Narasipura, Clover claims that its business model centres around demand-led cultivation, a managed farm network, and full-stack agronomy.

Clover grows fresh produce for specific and predictable clients' with its demand-led cultivation. The managed farm network of greenhouses are based in peri-urban and rural areas, surrounding urban consumption zones, thereby ensuring freshness and reducing spoilage, the startup added. It also provides a full-stack agronomy solution to the greenhouse farmers in the network, improving yields and standardising output quality.

Commenting on the transaction, Vinod Murali, Managing Partner of Alteria Capital, added, “Agritech is a segment which continues to see tailwinds despite COVID-19-related issues, and Clover provides high-quality produce consistently, which is at an even higher premium currently.” 

Avinash previously worked as a venture investor with Aavishkaar, and previously, spent almost a decade at Bosch across engineering and corporate strategy roles. Gururaj previously worked in general management and analytics roles at Myntra, CallidusCloud, and Info Edge. While Arvind was earlier based in the Gulf in various sales management roles, Santhosh worked in his family’s manufacturing business.

Alteria’s current portfolio of 25+ companies includes Rebel Foods, Lendingkart, ZestMoney, Portea, Toppr Technologies Ltd, Spinny, Stanza Living, Raw Pressery, Vogo Automotive, Dunzo, Vinculum, mfine, Loadshare, LBB, Maverix, Generico, Country Delight, and Universal Sportsbiz Pvt Ltd (Wrogn, Imara, and Ms Taken brands).