Cultino Agrotech Pvt Ltd, which runs agritech app Krishi Network, on Thursday said it has roped in actor Pankaj Tripathi as its brand ambassador, who has also backed the platform for an undisclosed capital.
The startup said that its tie up with the actor will usher in avenues to expand to the masses and help connect with farmers at the grassroots level.
Tripathi's background as a farmer resonates with the platform’s aim to aid farmers grow their profits by offering them solutions to critical decisions.
“Coming from a farmer background, I have always believed in supporting initiatives that help farmers with access to information to grow their business. Back in my days as a farmer, genuine and correct information always used to be a concern," Tripathi said.
The startup plans to use the fresh funds to boost their artificial intelligence-based technology platform across India.
Founded by IIT Kharagpur alumni Ashish Mishra and Siddhant Bhomia, Krishi Network leverages the growing rural internet penetration to create a platform that eases information accessibility for farmers and enables them to generate higher profits from their land.
The company claims to provide a mix of online and offline support. It further said to have also onboarded agri brands, agri-input merchants, and other stakeholders in the agriculture supply chain.
The app is currently available in Hindi, Marathi, Punjabi, and English, and is planned to be launched in other languages soon, it said.
Earlier, Krishi Network has raised funds from angels such as Sanjiv Rangrass (ITC); Sunil Khairnar (Indigram labs); Venkat Tadanki (Anvaya ventures); Rushank Vora (ICICI ventures); Aneesh Reddy (Capillary); Abhishek Goyal (Tracxn); Agam Khare (Absolute Foods); Suraj Saharan (Delhivery); Rohit Razdan (ClearTax); Kanav Hasija (Innovaccer) among others.
“We started Krishi Network with a vision to transform Indian agriculture by enabling farmers to adopt change with confidence. We are growing their horizon by reliably connecting them to experts and other agri-businesses beyond their local area,” Mishra said.
Startups in the larger agri-tech segment have managed to pull in funding from strategic players and investors. Last month, JM Financial Private Equity’s second fund has led a Rs 100 crore investment in agri-tech platform BigHaat Agro Pvt Ltd, as a part of its Series B funding round.
FarMart, a SaaS-led food supply platform, pocketed a $10 million funding round led by Matrix Partners India, in October last year. Gramophone also raised $10 million in a new financing round led by Z3Partners the same month.
Among large deals, DeHaat, a platform providing end-to-end agriculture services including agricultural input, crop advisory, market linkage platform and financial services to farmers, had raised $115 million in October from Belgium-based investment firm Sofina and Lightrock India.
Recently, in an interview with VCCircle agritech-focussed venture capital (VC) firm Omnivore’s Managing Partner Mark Kahn had said that many agritech startups may turn unicorns this year.
