FarMart, a software-as-a-service (SaaS)-led food supply platform, on Wednesday said it has raised Series B funding of $32 million (Rs 244 crore) led by General Catalyst, with participation from existing investors Matrix Partners India and Omidyar Network India.
The latest fundraise comes just six months after the Gurugram-based company secured $10 million (around Rs 74.8 crore) in a Series A round in October last year that brings its total funds raised so far to $48 million (Rs 366 crore).
FarMart plans to use the fresh money to boost its digital distribution network in India and to export markets, the company said in a statement. It also eyes investments across research and development, automation and technology.
Operated by Farmart Service Pvt Ltd, the platform was founded in December 2015 by childhood friends Alekh Sanghera and Mehtab Singh Hans.
Since raising its Series A capital, the company claims to have scaled itself as top agri-retailer SaaS tool, with 60,000 retailers serving two million farmers through its mobile app.
FarMart has also ramped up its output linkage offering, distributed through its app users, to over 600 India districts, with 75,000 metric tonnes of high-quality produce, sourced across over 15 commodities till date.
“We have built a retailer-centric solution at the intersection of data, hyperlocal serviceability and underutilized assets. The entire team is driven by the ambition and opportunity to build India’s largest food supply platform,” said Alekh Sanghera, CEO and Co-Founder, FarMart.
“Farmers have to travel 25-30 kms to access a formal marketplace. Leveraging the proximity, social capital and infrastructure of these agri-retailers, we are able to source directly from farmers in a capital efficient and non-linear manner. Removing excessive intermediaries helps in providing better prices to farmers, reduces direct cost and reduces wastage up to 10-15%,” added Mehtab Singh Hans, Co-Founder, FarMart.
“The fast-growing B2B platform activates critical connections between farmers and agri-retailers, enabling millions of farmers to supply fresh produce to consumers all over India, creating powerful, positive change for these stakeholders," said Deep Nishar, Managing Director, General Catalyst.
Silicon Valley-based venture capital firm General Catalyst is focused on early stage and growth investments. The firm has backed platforms like Airbnb, Deliveroo, Guild, Gusto, Hubspot, Illumio, Lemonade, Livongo, Oscar, Samsara, Snap, Stripe, and Warby Parker.
Elluminate Capital was the exclusive financial advisor to FarMart for its latest round.
In March 2017, Indian Angel Network (IAN) made an undisclosed investment in FarMart.
The agri-tech space has seen a number of venture capital investments for the past one year.
In January, Bijak, a business-to-business agricultural trade platform, raised Rs 143.92 crore ($19.37 million) as a part of its Series B funding round led by Bertelsmann.
In November last year, Fasal, an agritech start-up focused on precision agriculture, raised $4 million (around Rs 29.6 crore) in a pre-Series A funding round led by 3one4 Capital.