This presentation highlights the concept of startup and current scenario of agritech startups, government support/incubators/ accelerators related to agritech startup, bottlenecks for agritech startups in India and case studies highlighting innovative agritech solutions.

2. Agritech startups
Redefining Indian Agriculture
SHAILESH
PALB9167
Sr. M.Sc.

3. Introduction
 Second-largest agricultural
land in the world
 The agriculture and allied
sector employs 58% of our
population
 Core sector for food security,
nutritional security, and
sustainable development
 There has been significant growth
in Indian Agriculture with the
grain production rising to 273.83
million tonnes in the year 2018

5. Technology then

6. Technology today impacts every aspect of agricultural
value chain…
Processing & Storage
Inputs / Knowledge Cultivation Distribution,
Packaging & Handling
• Getting
agriculture inputs
• Weather forecast
• Decision support
solution
• Pest management
andnutritional
management
Solution
• AI based
sowing
advisories
• Mobile
controlled
motor
• Hi tech irrigation
systems
• Auto steering
tractors
• Crop counting
machines
• Machine-learning
algorithms to
differentiate
between weeds
and crops
•Machine
based Image
technology to
sort based on
color, size,
type etc.
•Wireless
sensor to
monitor
crops
connected
with
smartphone
•Measuring
grains
moisture
content
• Web and mobile
applications to
sell farm
products
• Price forecasting
• Online
marketplace
for grain
• Using data to
track a supply
chain

7. To know the concept of startup and current
scenario of agritech startups
To Understand the Bottlenecks for
agritech startups in India
Case studies highlighting innovative
agritech solutions
Objectives
To know the Government support /incubators
/ accelerators related to agritech startups

8. Startup
The Department of Industrial Policy and
Promotion (DIPP) defines a startup as an
entity established
 Not prior to ten years with annual
turnover not exceeding INR 25 crore in
any preceding financial years
 Working towards innovation, development
or improvement of products or processes or
services, or if it is a scalable business model with a high potential of
employment generation or wealth creation
 Provided that such entity is not formed by splitting up, or
reconstruction, of a business already in existence.

9. Startup development stages

10. Around 8,900-9,300 of these are
technology led startups
1,300 new tech startups were born in 2019 alone
implying there are 2-3 startups born every day
India has 3rd largest startup ecosystem in the world
India has about 50,000 startups
in 2018

11. What is agri startup?
Start up in the field of
Agriculture and its
allied sector is called
as Agri Startup

12. Agri startups
• A total of 366 agri-based startups have come up from 2013 to 2017
• More than 50% of the startups in the last 5 years were started in 2015
and 2016
• 90%+ of all funding is focused on seed stage and early stage startups
-NASSCOM, 2018

13. What is agritech?
Agritech is defined as an individual or
segment of companies using
technology in the field of agriculture
leading to increase in productivity,
efficiency and output. Agritech can
be applied across the agricultural
value chain and can be in the form of
a product, a service or an application.
With Prime Minister’s aim of doubling
farmers income by 2022, agriculture
technology could be a major driving
force to achieve this aim.

14. Key Indian states focusing on Agritech Startups
(2013-2017)
State wise Funding
(2013-2017)
Startup scenario in India Agritech
(2013 - 2017)
Karnataka
27%
Maharashtra
22%
NCT
9%
Haryana
9%
TamilNadu
8%
Telangana
7%
Gujarat
7%
Others
11%
Karnataka
67%
NCR
11%
Maharashtra
7%
Telangana
7%
Others
8%
Karnataka accounts for two-third
of total funding received by startups
Karnataka and Maharashtra together
account for almost 50% of the total
Agritech startups opened -NASSCOM, 2018

15. • ~ 450 agritech startups in India, growing at
25% YoY
• Karnataka- Most innovative state for the second
time
(NITI Ayog)
• ~ 155 agritech startups in Bengaluru.
• Bangalore has the third highest number of tech
startups among the global cities
(Indian startup hub)

16. Agritech India Industry Summary
~35 startups
established
in 2018
14
USD
Mn
35
USD
Mn
27
USD
Mn
Top 5 Funded Startups (2018)
9
USD
Mn
8
USD
Mn
USD ~73mn
funding
received in
2018
>70% of
funding at
Seed stage
>60% funding to
market linkage
sector
USD ~248
mnfunding
received till
June 2019 -NASSCOM, 2019

17. 1
Agritech is make in India for the world
Every 9th Agritech startup in
the world is from India.
48% Agritech CEOs believe to
have next Agritech unicorn in
coming 3 years
Global funds have directly invested
in Agritech startups and sector
focused funds. Multilaterals, such
as, WEF and ADB have shown
interest too.
<5 global Agritech companies
ventured in India, as compared to
>25 Indian Agritech companies
with global presence.
Start-ups
Technology
Unicorn
Funding
Growth
Market
exploration
Global India
1 0
2X 10X
3103 450
<5 ~25

18. Employment Rationalization
Streamlining Supply Chain
Stakeholder Empowerment
The Digital Infrastructure
Resource Maximization
Processing and Exports
Solutions that enable farm
automation and aggregation will
rationalize and gainfully redistribute the
workforce.
Mandis and FPOs need digitization to
bring more transparency. Farmers need
more sales channels. Data and market
connects can empower each stakeholder.
Post harvest loss in India amounts to
USD 13 billion. Demand driven cold
chains, warehouse monitoring solutions
and market linkage can significantly
increase farmer incomes
India ranks among top 5 countries in food
processing. By 2024, the sector will
employ 9 mn. Streamlining and tractability can
improve farmer income and exports.
80% of India’s fresh water is used in
agriculture. Similar figures for China are 65%
and 70% globally. Reduction in usage of water
and pesticides is a significant business
opportunity.
There is an acute lack of data and insights at ground
and farmer level. Along with laying the digital work,
solutions that build a layer of data will transform
DBT schemes, insurance and loan disbursal.
Untapped Agritech opportunity

19. 1
Agritech Stakeholder Ecosystem
Government
Consumer
Agritech Start-ups
Industry
Farmer
Processing Market Linkage
Input Harvest

20. Agritech path ahead
Market Linkage
Digital Agriculture
Better Access to Inputs
Farming as a Service
Financing
Taking quality inputs to the farmers for better
Productivity
Making services affordable to small and marginal
farmers
Driving transparency, traceability and real time
access to information
Improving Supply Chain and taking farmers
product directly to consumers
Innovations taking roots in farmer financing

21. Better Access to Inputs
Providing farmers better
access to agricultural
inputs at their doorsteps,
it helps farmers to
understand the best
input product to increase
the yield and
productivity
Business Attractiveness
Landscape
Quality Fertilizers: 70%
agriculture growth
depends on fertilizer quality
Offer door to door delivery,
makes farmers more
interested in this business area
Access to Quality seeds:
Quality of seed accounts
for 20%-25% of productivity

22. BigHaat
How it Works
Founded in
Founders
Headquarters
Product Name
Technology used
Inputs /
Knowledge
2015
Sachin Nandwana and Sateesh Nukal
Bengaluru, Karnataka
Seeds, Plant Protection chemicals,
Plant Nutrients and Farm Machinery
e-Commerce Platform, Web and Mobile
Platform

23. Farming as a Service
Farming as a Service
offers affordable
technology solutions to
farmers for efficient
farming by converting
fixed cost to variable
cost
Business Attractiveness
Landscape
A cyclic business model,
as farmers need
equipments on regular
basis
75% of farmers own less
than 1 hectare of land
hence making it difficult to
own equipment's
Buying agricultural
equipments requires huge
money making it difficult for
farmer

24. How it Works
Founded in
Founders
Headquarters
Product Name
Technology used
Inputs /
Knowledge
2015
Abhilash Tirupathy and Karthik
Tamil Nadu and Karnataka
Equipment on Rental
Mobile based application
Gold Farm

25. Digital Agriculture
Digital / Precision
Agriculture based
businesses offers
innovative technology
solutions for increasing
crop productivity and
farming process
efficiency
Business Attractiveness
Landscape
Leads to data generation
which can be used for
forecasting
Cost saving by offering
better prediction
techniques
Tech Intervention
Drones, IoT Sensors, block chain,
image sensing, analytics, machine
learning
Improve yield and
increases productivity

26. Intello Labs
How it Works
Founded in
Founders
Headquarters
Product Name
Technology used
Inputs /
Knowledge
2016
Milan Sharma, Nishant Mishra,
Devendra Chandani and Himani
Bengaluru, Karnataka
Intello Labs Grading App
AI (Smartphone based)

28. Market Linkage:Improving Supply Chain
Market Linkage provides a digital
platform which connect farm
output with the customer, it is
one of the most easy way to take
farmers products directly to the
end customer
Business Attractiveness
Helps in reducing post
harvest losses
Landscape
Huge customer
traction
Received highest
funding
Tech Intervention
App based platform, image sensing
for quality grading,
IoT based storagemonitoring
Directly taking farm
output to consumer

29. WayCool
How it Works
Founded in
Founders
Headquarters
Product Name
Technology used
Inputs /
Knowledge
2015
Karthik Jayaraman & Sanjay Dasari
Chennai
Waycool foods and products
B2B & B2B2C e-commerce platform,
mobile platform

30. How it Works
B2B2C model

31. Financing
Farmers in India struggle
to get finance but
Agritech based financing
start-ups helps such
under served community
of farmers to get loans
quickly
Business Attractiveness
Landscape
A solution for millions,
hence scalable
Farmers do not have good credit
history which makes it
difficult for them to raise funds
through traditional channels
Raising funds, the biggest
challenge of Indian farmers

32. How it Works
Founded in
Founders
Headquarters
Product Name
Technology used
Inputs /
Knowledge
2016
Alekh Sangera, Mehtab and Lokesh
Uttar Pradesh
Low cost digital loans
Mobile Technologies
farMart

33. Government Support / Incubators /
Accelerators

34. Government announced a four point strategy to
support agriculture in India…
Reducing
Cultivation Costs
Ensuring
Profitable Prices
Processing
Farm Wastes
Creating non
farm source
of Income
Apart from four point strategy GOI have specifically
focused on support start-ups in this area through
start-up India
Through this initiative, the government aims to
empower start-ups to grow through innovation and
design. The Startup India initiative is based on the
following three pillars:
•Simplification and handholding
•Funding support and incentives
•Industry-academia partnership and incubation

35. Launched by the Indian
government to set up a network of
technology centres, incubation
centres and also to promote
start-ups for innovation and
entrepreneurship in rural and
agriculture-based industry
The NSTEDB start-up
scheme by Indian government
will provide a limited, one-
time,non-recurring financial
assistance, up to a maximum of
INR 25 Lakhs.
There is no upper limit (or
even lower limit) for a
project grant. The budget is
decided based on the
requirement for its
successful implementation.
Provided support for project staff
salaries, equipment, supplies and
consumables, contingency
expenditure, Patent filing
charges, outsourcing charges,
etc.
AIM will provide a grant-in-aid
of INR 10 Cr to each Atal
Incubation Centre for a
maximum of five years to cover
the capital and operational
expenditure cost in running the
centre.
Incentive schemes to support start-ups in agriculture and technology…
The quantum of SFAC
Venture Capital Assistance
will depend on the project
cost and will be the lowest
of the following: >26% of
the promoter’s equity and
>INR 50 Lakhs.
RKVY- RAFTAAR
Rashtriya Krishi Vikas
Yojana- Remunerative
approaches for Agriculture
and Allies sector
rejuvenation

36. Pradhan Mantri MUDRA Yojana
Pradhan Mantri MUDRAYojana (PMMY) is a scheme
launched by the Hon’ble Prime Minister on April 8, 2015
for providing loans up to 10 lakh to the non-corporate,
non-farm small/micro enterprises.
Agriculture grand challenge
•A unique opportunity for Agri-tech startups with a
commercially viable solution to solve for innovative
challenges in the sector.
• Ministry of Agriculture, Govt. of India is looking for new
concepts & innovations in 12 different areas.
•Twelve startups from each of the early stage, and ready-
market stages (24 in total) would be selected to address the
12 themes (key problems) at the programme.

37. Karnataka is one of the few States that launched their
Startup policy very early (in 2015) in the country

38. KEY
HIGHLIGHTS
OF THE
ACTIVITIES
startup.karnataka.gov.in

39. Key Agritech focused Incubators and Accelerators
IIM Ahmedabad has launched India’s first
Food & Agri-Business accelerator(CIIE) for
start-ups in food and agri-business sector
ICRISAT launched Innovation Hub
(iHub) to support agricultural tech
entrepreneurs, scientists and
technology experts
Indigram Labs Foundation
(supporting high end start-ups)
NAARM launched a-IDEA which is
a Technology Business
Incubator(TBI). NAARM launched
Agri Udaan, Food & Agribusiness
Accelerator

40. Other Incubators and Accelerators focused on
Agritech
-
IIM Calcutta
Innovation
Park
SIDBI
Innovation &
Incubation
Centre (SIIC)
Tamil Nadu Agricultural
University /Agricultural
College and
Research Institute
(ACRI)
NASSCOM
Centre of
Excellence for
IoT
UPAYA Social
Ventures
Kalinga Institute of
Industrial Technology
Business Incubator
(KIIT-TBI)
start-up Oasis
(Jaipur Based
Incubation
Centre)

41. Other Incubators focused on agri startups
 ICAR agri- business incubators
 PUSA krishi incubator (ICAR-IARI)
 CrAdLE (Centre for Advancing & Launching
Enterprises )
EDII Ahmedabad
 N S Raghavan Centre for Entrepreneurial Learning
(NSRCEL) at IIM Bangalore.
 C- CAMP (Centre for Cellular and Molecular
Platforms) UAS Bangalore.

42. News Reports

44. Bottlenecks for Indian Agritech startups
Low Landholding Size
Return for the Investors
Talent Retention
Long Gestation Period
Technology Affordability
Skill Adaptability
Acquisition of Agritech Companies Government Regulations and
Policies

45. 19%
More than 5 years
5 years 33%
3 years 43%
5%
More than 50% Agritech CEO’s do
not expect an Indian Agritech
unicorn within the next 5 years
Farmers’
Mindset
39% 29% 20% 12%
Policy
~40% of Agritech founders feel that
raising fundsis the biggest challenge
….Toan Indian Agritech Unicorn
Key Challenges for Indian Agritech Firms
1 years
NASSCOM Agritech CEO Survey 2019
Lack of Digital
Infrastructure
Funding

46. Recommendations
Increased and timely support to early stage start-ups
Need for large companies to collaborate with start-ups
Need for Corporate and Government accelerators to help Agritech
start-ups grow to the next level.
v
There is a need to create mobile trainings to educate the farmers
There is a need for Government to help set up Agritech focused incubators
and grants.
Academia should encourage more entrepreneurs to focus on this growing
sector and curriculum changes to be made in agricultural universities

47. Agritech Case Studies

48. Revolutionizingthe Fresh
Produce SupplyChain
India'slargest fresh produce
supply chain company

49. Founded in
Headquarters
Objective
Product Name
Technology used
2015
Bengaluru, Karnataka
To provide more income to farmers
and less price to retailers by creating
an efficient supply chain
Ninjacart Mobile App
B2B e-Commerce platform, Mobile
platform
Core Team Profile

50. How it works

51. Active regions
Impact
Funding
Operationally present in 7 cities- Bengaluru, Delhi, Pune,
Ahmedabad, Chennai, Mumbai, Hyderabad
20,000 farmers, serves over 70,000 customers every month,
movement of 1400 tonnes of perishables from farms to
businesses, every day, in less than 12 hours.
$34.6 Mn (INR 250 Cr)
Company had a revenue of INR
27cr. in 2016-17, INR 54cr. in 2017-18
and INR 132cr. in 2018-19.
The revenue grew at a rate of 388%
between 2016 and 2019

52. Founded in
Founders
Headquarters
Product Name
Technology used
Other services
2019
Havyas K. S. & Nithin Singh
Bengaluru, Karnataka
Precision farming as a Service
NDVI sensors, Drones
Hydroponics
(home kit and outdoor setup)
Hydroponics Training,
Consultation
Transforming the Future of Farming

53. We are solving the problem
of excess use of fertilizer
and pesticide in farming as
well as poor management
of other resources
throughout the agricultural
process, labor issues as
well as non-standard
method of farming
activities.

54. Research Studies
Entrepreneurial India: How startups
redefine India’s economic growth
Mehrotra, N et al., (2016)

55. Leaders of established
companies identify the
benefits of collaborating
with startups
major reasons for failure
of startups as identified
by Venture capitalists

56. Conclusion
• Over all, the ecosystem for agritech startup in the country is
promising
• Government is also playing its part in boosting innovation and
entrepreneurship
• Several incubators and accelerators are actively increasing their
footprints
• Never the less several factors remain to be addressed towards
further enabling agritech ecosystem and unleashing the full
power of available technological innovations
towards improving India's
agriculture growth

57. THANK YOU