[Funding alert] Agritech startup Arya.Ag raises $60M in Series C round

Noida-headquartered integrated grain commerce platform Arya has announced raising $60 million in a Series C round of funding in a mix of equity and debt. The $46 million equity component was led by Asia Impact SA and returning investors Lightrock India and Quona Capital, an executive at the company told YourStory.

Of the debt financing component, $10 million was infused by US International Development Finance Corporation.

Arya.Ag was part of the JM Baxi Group till 2013, following which former ICICI Bank Agri Commodity Finance executives Prasanna Rao and Anand Chandra acquired 65 percent stake in the company. They were joined by former Group Product Head of the Rural and Inclusive Banking Group at ICICI Bank, Chattanathan D, in 2019. 

Following subsequent rounds of equity financing, Aspada continues to be the majority shareholder in Arya.Ag. Aspada was acquired by global impact investment platform Lightrock in 2019 to set up Lightrock India.

“With the current round of funding, we plan on growing our business platform for grain commerce from $200 million ARR (Annual Recurring Revenue) to reach $1 billion ARR over the next 12 months. We will also expand our presence from 55 percent districts of India to cover 75 percent districts and add new layer of pre-harvest services,” Anand Chandra, Co-founder and Executive Director of Arya.Ag told YourStory.

Arya.Ag’s business includes warehousing and warehouse-receipt financing solutions targeted at smallholder farmers, farmer producer organisations, small aggregators, and agribusiness corporations. The digital platform also connects farmers to buyers, offering logistics solutions. The platform offers year-round supply to SME and corporate buyers through visibility into 10,000 commodity storage points across the country.

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The company is also evolving co-lending models as part of its NBFC arm, Arya Dhan, which offers collateral-based loans. “At present less than 10 percent of our lending happens on our books as we partner with banks,” said Anand. 

“Through the pandemic, we have seen Arya transform agri-commerce across India,” said Matteo Pusineri, director of Asia Impact SA, in a statement issued by the company. “Arya will help accomplish Asia Impact's vision to integrate rural under-served farming communities across Asia to markets at scale,” he added.

Arya.Ag had previously raised $21 million in Series B round of funding led by Quona Capital in December 2020.