[Funding alert] Blockchain-led agritech startup Agri10x raises seed round from Omnivore

Pune-based agritech e-marketplace Agri10x has raised an undisclosed seed round from impact investor Omnivore.

The blockchain and AI-enabled platform connects farmers directly with traders and buyers, and lets them sell their produce at competitive prices. It also integrates affiliated services, including quality assessment, warehousing, cold storage, and logistics to deliver a full-stack market linkage solution for Indian farmers.  

Agri10x plans to use this funding to expand to eight more states, onboard one million farmers, and offer fintech solutions to its buyers through NBFC partnerships. The startup also intends to ramp up its exports operations across Middle East and Southeast Asian countries to open up potential new markets for Indian farmers.

Jinesh Shah, Managing Partner at Omnivore, said in a statement, 

"Agri10x is providing farmers with direct access to multiple buyers across India, which will ensure competitive pricing and transparency for all parties involved. In addition, by helping farmers to receive better pricing for higher quality, incentives are aligned for them to grow better quality food for all.” 

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Agri10x not only improves market linkages for farmers, but also makes all transactions traceable, transparent, and tamper-proof with the use of blockchain. Going ahead, it intends to partner with agrochemical and seed companies too.

Speaking of the funding, Pankajj Ghode, Co-founder and CEO of Agri10x, stated,

“Indian farmers face huge challenges bringing their produce to market and often receive suboptimal pricing as a result. The platform we are building at Agri10x will address many of these challenges and help farmers improve their incomes substantially. We are excited to partner with Omnivore as we streamline agricultural value chains across India while supporting farmers.'' 

Founded in 2018 by Pankajj Ghode, Sundeep Bose, and Abhijith Naraparaju, Agri10x currently operates in the states of Maharashtra, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, and Gujarat. 

The startup is working closely with the Government of India’s Common Service Centres (CSC), a network of access points across rural India, for the seamless delivery of e-governance services. 

It has also appointed Village-Level Entrepreneurs (VLEs) to help farmers register on its agritech platform. Agri10x believes that in a few years, it will employ tens of thousands of VLEs, and help actively generate rural employment in the country.