Agritech startup AgroStar on Thursday said it has acquired Mumbai-based food value chain company INI Farms Pvt Ltd for a cash and stock consideration.
The Pune-based platform said the buyout will help it provide market linkage solutions to its farmer’s network for the domestic and export markets. Besides, the customers of INI Farms’ global retailers will also get access to a wider range of fruit and vegetable products.
"We believe that large platforms providing end-to-end services to the farmers from advisory and inputs to output offtake is going to drive this transformation.
AgroStar partnership provides us with a great opportunity to grow multi-fold with expansion into the entire agriculture output business and leveraging our strong supply chain capabilities," said Pankaj Khandelwal, Chairman and Managing Director, INI Farms.
"With AgroStar serving farmers across a diverse range of crops, INI Farms will have access to a much wider and diverse crop base to offer to our global customers," he added.
Founded in 2009 by Pankaj Khandelwal and Purnima Khandelwal, INI Farms claims to have built a business with large-scale pan-India operations spanning contract farming, aggregation, supply chain management, and by serving food retailers globally. It handles over 50,000 tons of fruits every year.
INI Farms' global consumer brand Kimaye is spread across 35 countries.
Notably, Pankaj and Purnima along with the entire INI Farms team will continue to operate by adding multiple crops and scaling the Kimaye brand across many other countries.
AgroStar, operated by ULink AgriTech Pvt. Ltd, was founded by Shardul Sheth and Sitanshu Sheth in 2013.
The startup leverages data and technology to help farmers get agri-inputs and transact on its platform and currently serves over five million farmers across Gujarat, Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, and Uttar Pradesh states.
Last year in December, AgroStar raised $70 million (around Rs 527 crore) as part of its Series D funding round from Evolvence, global asset manager Schroders Capital, Hero Enterprise, and UK’s development finance institution CDC, among other investors.