[Funding alert] Agritech startup CropIn raises $20M in Series C round led by ABC World Asia

AI and data-led agritech startup CropIn on Wednesday said it has raised $20 million (around Rs 145 crore) in a Series C round led by private equity fund ABC World Asia to expand its business. Existing investors Chiratae Ventures, Invested Development, and Ankur Capital also participated in this funding round.

Other new investors in this round include CDC Group and Kris Gopalakrishnan's family office Pratithi Investment Trust.

In a statement, the company said, "CropIn will use this capital infusion to focus on its global expansion, while continuing to innovate on its machine learning-based predictive analytics platform, SmartRisk to further strengthen its artificial intelligence capabilities."

The startup, which was launched in 2010, said it is also investing in penetrating its target markets globally.

Krishna Kumar, Founder and CEO of CropIn, said, "The robust, predictive power of digitalisation offers tremendous potential for the agriculture industry to leapfrog its many challenges in the coming years."

The industry is capturing more data than ever, on everything from agronomy, weather and logistics to market price volatility, which has helped reduce acute data gaps throughout the value chain, he added.

ALSO READ

National Farmers Day: These agritech startups are empowering Indian farmers in times of coronavirus

"In order to improve yields, optimise production and improve resilience and sustainability, agri-businesses are increasingly relying on innovative agritech solutions like artificial intelligence, data analytics, and the internet of things," he said.

CropIn's said its data-driven farming solutions enable agri-enterprises and growers to maximise per-acre value.

Earlier in February, the Government of India partnered with CropIn Technologies to streamline the CCE (Crop Cutting Experiment) process and make it more accurate and scalable.

CCE is an assessment method that was employed by the government of India as part of its Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY), launched in 2016. CCE is aimed at accurately estimating the yield of a crop in a region during a given cultivation cycle.

(Disclaimer: Additional background information has been added to this PTI copy for context)