[Funding alert] Agritech Platform Vegrow raises $25 mn in series B round

Business-to-business (B2B) agritech marketplace Vegrow has raised $25 million in its series B funding round from Prosus Ventures.

The round also saw participation from existing investors Matrix Partners India, Elevation Capital, Lightspeed Venture Partners and Ankur Capital.

The company plans to use the funds to expand its geographic presence, increase hiring, strengthen its tech stack and grow.

The Bengaluru-based Vegrow was founded in 2020 by Praneeth Kumar, Mrudhukar Batchu, Kiran Naik and Shobhit Jain, It helps bridge the demand and supply of fruits by aggregating multiple channels (wholesale, semi-wholesale, modern trade and general trade) across 100 cities on the demand side and over 20,000 farmers on the supply side.

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According to the company it processes more than 200 tonnes of fruits per day, and it has grown 15 times in the last one year with a gross margin of around 20%.

“The growth has been unlocked on the back of our deep tech and data stack across the value chain. We have built capabilities to harness farmer chatter, estimate farmland produce and measure demand across tier-I, II and III markets,” said, Shobhit Jain, cofounder of Vegrow.

“The company has an annualised revenue run rate of $200 million. We aim to grow sustainably and deliver a $5 billion outcome within the next five years,” he added.

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“We have been tracking the agritech space closely through our existing investments in fresh produce and animal protein segments. The fruit industries, being historically unorganised, fragmented and inefficient, are poised for similar tech-led disruption,” said, Ashutosh Sharma, head of investments, India at Prosus Ventures.

“Vegrow has catapulted to pole position by serving pan-India demand through its focus on scale and technology. We are excited to back them as they chase the next level of growth in the country”, said Sharma.

In July 2021, Vegrow had raised $13 million in its Series A funding round led by Lightspeed Venture Partners and Elevation Capital. Its existing investors Matrix Partners India, Ankur Capital, Better Capital and Titan Capital also participated in this round.

About Vegrow

Vegrow is in the business of fresh fruits with an addressable market size of $60 Billion. Vegrow is a tech platform partnering with farmers, aggregating supply, and selling to organized demand through partnership.

Vegrow simplifies farming and increases the land utilization for farmers. Vegrow is a VC funded startup and founded by a group of IITians having a passion for agtech and with experience in agri-input & agri-output companies viz. AgroStar & ITC. The team has experience in building products from 0 to 1 and 1 to 100 solving critical problems of market places & B2B business like UrbanCompany & Chronus.