AGRIM, a B2B platform for agri-inputs, said it has secured Series A funding of $10 million led by Kalaari Capital.
The round also saw participation from existing investors Omnivore, India Quotient and Accion Venture Lab, besides Axis Bank joining the fundraise as part of their Bharat Banking initiative.
“We at Kalaari, are excited about playing a role in AGRIM’s vision of transforming the agri-input retail market in India. The founding team’s deep expertise and clarity of thought, along with their strong focus on unit-level profitability, resonated with us,” said Vamshi Krishna Reddy, Partner at Kalaari Capital.
AGRIM, which is owned and operated by Agrim Wholesale Pvt. Ltd, is building an India’s digital platform for $50 billion agri-inputs industry by connecting retailers directly with manufacturers and providing solutions for distribution, credit, logistics and marketing to all the parties.
The Gurugram-based platform claims that it currently works across 500 districts, with over 2,500 manufacturers and 170,000 retailers on the platform and expects to clock $100 million annualised gross merchandising value (GMV) in 2022. It also plans to soon roll out financial services to ease the burden while ensuring optimum stocking with the retailers.
“Axis Bank is focused on creating a distinctive ‘Bharat Bank’ unit with tailored products and processes for rural segments. Investment in AGRIM is aligned to our Bharat Banking strategy and we look forward to building a strong partnership by providing suitable banking products and services to their customers,” said Munish Sharda, Group Executive and Head of Bharat Banking at Axis Bank.
AGRIM plans to use the fresh capital to onboard more talents, embed fintech product development and scale up operations.
“The investment will help us expand exponentially into new categories and geographies. Given the unit-level profitability, most funds will be used to bring rock stars onboard and launch embedded fintech services for our retailers,” said Mukul Garg, Co-Founder and CEO of AGRIM.
The startup, which was set up in 2020, raised $2 million in its seed round of funding in the same year from India Quotient, Omnivore, Accion Venture Lab and a couple of unicorn cofounders (Rajesh Yabaji of BlackBuck and Rahul Jaimini of Swiggy).
AGRIM was founded by serial entrepreneurs Mukul Garg and Avi Jain. Prior to AGRIM, Mukul was Head of Growth at Blackbuck and Avi worked in investment banking with Nomura, and then co-founded Taazu, a corporate travel platform.
