Agri-inputs B2B Marketplace AGRIM Emerges From Stealth Mode With USD 2M In Seed Funding From Omnivore, India Quotient, And Accion Venture Lab
04 Mar 2021: AGRIM, a B2B marketplace for agri-inputs, came out of stealth mode today to announce that it had raised over USD 2 million in Seed round funding back in May 2020 and had scaled operations substantially over the past ten months. The Seed round was led by Omnivore, India Quotient, and Accion Venture Lab, but also saw participation from unicorn founders Rajesh Yabaji (Blackbuck) and Rahul Jaimini.
AGRIM is building a digital marketplace for India’s USD 50 billion agri-inputs industry, by connecting rural retailers directly with manufacturers and providing value-added solutions for distribution, logistics, marketing, and credit. India has over 1 million agri-input retailers serving 130 million farmers. Despite their critical role in the ecosystem, agri-input retailers often struggle with limited assortment of goods, poor availability, opaque pricing, spurious product quality, and the high cost of working capital. AGRIM’s marketplace is solving these issues via a simple digital interface, a robust fulfilment process, and embedded fintech solutions.
Based in Gurgaon, AGRIM was founded in April 2020 by IIT Kharagpur alumni Mukul Garg and Avi Jain. Prior to AGRIM, Mukul was Head of Growth at Blackbuck, India's largest trucking platform, where he launched their on-demand trucking marketplace and scaled multiple other business lines. He earlier co-founded Tripigator, a travel tech startup focused on personalized travel.
Commenting on the funding round, Mukul Garg, Co-Founder of AGRIM, noted, “I have seen the agri-inputs supply chain and its challenges firsthand through our family business. We believe AGRIM, a technology and data-driven marketplace, will have a massive impact on the overall agriculture landscape in India in the coming decade”
According to Mark Kahn, Managing Partner of Omnivore, “We are thrilled to partner with Mukul and Avi on AGRIM’s journey to transform agri-inputs distribution in India. At Omnivore, we believe digital marketplaces like AGRIM will create tremendous value for India’s agricultural economy and its 130 million smallholder farmers.”
Madhukar Sinha, Partner at India Quotient added that, “Supply chain for agri-input has always been opaque and broken. Digital supply chain can unlock huge value for both manufacturers and retailers. We are excited to back AGRIM to take a stab at this large market.”
