BharatAgri (formerly LeanAgri), a digital farm advisory startup, has raised $6.5 million in its Series A round led by Omnivore. Existing backers such as India Quotient and 021 Capital have also participated in the round.
According to the Bengaluru-based startup, the funds will be used to expand its subscriber base beyond Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh, ramp up its growth of its inputs marketplace and refine the existing technology offering.
Founded by Sai Gole and Siddharth Dialani, BharatAgri provides end-to-end decision-making support for farmers.
Launched in 2017 by Siddharth Dialani and Sai Gole, BharatAgri provides farmers with an app-based platform for AI-based agronomy services on a paid subscription, which increases farm incomes through a systematic implementation of scientific farming techniques.
The startup’s application collects data on more than 30 critical parameters to offer custom advisory across multiple crops including grains, pulses, fruits and vegetables. In addition, its platform claims to offer targeted insights from time to time and regular crop monitoring for an affordable price.
“Even three years ago, it was unimaginable that rural Indians would be paying monthly subscription fees to Netflix and YouTube, which is normal today. BharatAgri has demonstrated that the same is possible with farmers, who see so much value in our advisory platform that they willingly pay subscription fees,” said Dialani.
“In the next few months, we will be expanding our platform to provide other agricultural services, starting with direct-to-farmer agri input supply,” he added.
Since 2020, BharatAgri startup claims to have witnessed a 20x growth in its paid subscription sales with a 65% renewal rate. It has over 33,000 active paid users and plans to reach a subscription base of 150,000 by March next year. Currently, its platform has an equal number of both, farmers growing horticulture crops and farmers growing commodity crops. BharatAgri claims, on average, farmers pay $8/INR 600 per acre for a six-month subscription.
