Bengaluru-based spacetech startup SatSure Analytics Pvt. Ltd has acquired software-as-a-service (SaaS) platform CropTrails for an undisclosed sum with an aim to foray into overseas markets like Africa, Latin America and Southeast Asia.
The startup in a statement said that it will transform CropTrails into a no-code platform for agribusinesses to prototype and build their in-house tool that can integrate with SatSure Sparta’s datasets.
CropTrails was conceptualized and incorporated in the year 2018 by Indore-based startup OEPP Innovations Private Limited. It is a web and android application which is used as an information collecting tool by field officers or supervisors to record and digitize information about farmers, farms and crops.
“Farm digitisation tools like CropTrails are necessary for countries such as Nigeria and the Philippines. Thus, this acquisition will help SatSure expand further and strengthen its international market reach into its target geographies in Africa, LATAM and Southeast Asia,” said Prateep Basu, Founder and CEO of SatSure.
Founded by Basu, Rashmit Singh Sukhmani and Abhishek Raju in 2017, SatSure is a decision analytics company that leverages advances in satellites and big data analytics to help solve problems at the nexus of sustainability of food, water and energy security.
Earlier in February, the spacetech startup raised $5 million (Rs 38 crore) in a pre-Series A round led by Baring Private Equity India and Asian Development Bank's venture arm, ADB Ventures. Last year in November, it raised its first institutional round of funding led by Baring Private Equity India.
“Digitisation and traceability are the two pillars on which CropTrails has been built, and SatSure’s competency in generating predictive insights using satellite imagery will only add more value to it,” added Priyan Shah, CEO of OEPP Innovations, the company that incorporated CropTrails.
This development comes at a time when the number of spacetech startups in India have doubled in 1 year. According to the Economic Survey 2022, the total number of space startups in the country has crossed 100 with 47 space technology startups being established in the country in 2021, up from 21 in 2020. In 2019, there were only 11 new startups added in the space sector.
Last year in May, IIT Madras-incubated Agnikul Cosmos Pvt. Ltd raised $11 million in a Series A funding round led by venture capital firm Mayfield India, along with existing investors, pi Ventures, Speciale Invest, Artha Venture Fund, among others. Angel investors Anand Mahindra, Nithin Kamath, Naval Ravikant also participated. The company said it will deploy funds to strengthen and build tech infrastructure and help it become India’s first private player to launch satellites in space.