IN AGRICULTURE AND RURAL DEVELOPMENT SECTOR

NABARD’S QUEST FOR

NABARD is mandated to promote agriculture and rural development through financial and non-financial intervention for fostering rural prosperity. Apart from credit and promotional activities, an alternative method has been evolved to meet the objective through the investment in Alternative Investment Funds (AIF), which facilitate contributing to the capital of the enterprises working for the benefit of agriculture and rural development. The capitalisation through AIF is expected to benefit the enterprises for development of new innovative products, develop linkages between the market and producers and help increase the net income of rural people. As on date, NABARD has invested in 16 Funds with a financial outlay of 230 crore. It has also established a subsidiary ‘NABVENTURES’, which would directly invest in enterprises in agriculture sector. To channelize the enterprises working for the benefit of agriculture and rural development, NABARD stipulates a condition that twice the commitment of it shall be invested by AIF in the capital of enterprises working in the agriculture and rural development sectors. Agriculture includes allied sector like livestock, fishing, forestry & logging, etc. According to 2011 Agricultural Census of India, an estimated 61.5% of the 1300 million Indian population is rural and most of them depend on agriculture. The number of farming households is around 159.6 million. The central and state governments are pro-actively pursuing policies to improve farmers’ livelihood. The government has set a goal to double the average farmer’s income by 2022. Technology will have to play a major role in achieving this goal. Agritech is the new buzz word in the Indian startup ecosystem. Since 2017 it is a hot topic for discussion in most of the startup conferences and events in India, as a means to enhance agriculture income. Support to agri enterprises based on technology is what NABARD is looking for through this initiative. A list of investments made through AIF is presented in this booklet. Also, details of some of the promising start ups in agri enterprises along with the people behind them are also presented.

STARTUP FUNDINGIN AGRICULTURE AND RURALDEVELOPMENT SECTOR

NABARD’S QUEST FOR

Ranjith Mukundan

STELLAPPS TECHNOLOGIES PVT. LTD.

Ranjith Mukundan has core telecom experience, spaning across shadow P&L management, solutions design and architecture, standardisation, network, network architecture, technology consulting etc. He has 23 years of experience in the industry and has been a part of Nomura, UK.

Co-Founder & CEO

Stellapps provide solution to milk farmers for deriving better price for their product as per quality of milk, i.e. based on contents of fat, snf accessed scientifically, without human intervention. At village level, the consideration payable to the farmer on supplying milk gets captured in a card automatically and the amount is remitted to his/her account periodically. At bulk milk collection centres, Stellapps device allows the unit to maintain the temperature in milk chiller so that the milk does not get infected by bacteria.Stellapps also provide solution to plug adulteration in milk from its transit from bulk milk collection centres to dairy where the milk is processed for consumption.

India’s first dairy iot solutions company building automation tools integrated with cloud, mobility and data analytics It enables getting fair and accurate prices for milk supplied by farmers without any human intervention The company has automated 871000 milk collection centres across 6 states Farmers has derived additional benefit of ₹ 400 crore.

DAIRY TECHNOLOGYNAME OF THE FUND : OMNIVORE PARTNERS

NAME OF THE COMPANY : STELLAPPS TECHNOLOGIES P. LTD.

BENEFITS

Shrikumar Suryanarayan

SEA6 ENERGY P. LTD.

Co-Founder, Chairman & CEO

Shrikumar Suryanarayan has over 30 years of leadership experience ranging from being the CEO at India's Translational Health Sciences Institute to being the President of R&D and Chief Scientific Advisor for Biocon Limited.Shrikumar Suryanarayan is a distinguished Alumnus awardee 2009 of the Indian Institute of Technology Chennai and Entrepreneur of the year award 2012

Seaweed or sea vegetables are forms of algae that grow in the sea. Seaweed are cultivated near Thoothukudi district of Tamil Nadu and converted into biostimulant. These biostimulant help improve crop productivity and reduce usage of pesticides. The project has enabled income generating source for fisher women. The company has fabricated the machinery in-house to convert seaweed into biostumulants.

The company sells agriculture biostimulant and crop protection products developed from seaweeds based on proprietary knowhowSea6 energy’s agri range of products aim to help farmers boost agricultural productivity in a completely safe and environmentally-friendly mannerThe company is also developing various other products like sea veg fibre (as food additive), aqua and poultry feeds etcSuccessfully commercialized biostimulant product, ‘agrogain’, currently used by more than one million farmers in India Field trials for grosgrain demonstrate 10-40% yield improvements across various crop applicationsEasy to implement solution to improve crop quality and productivity.

BENEFITS

SEAWEED CULTIVATIONNAME OF THE FUND : TATA CAPITAL INNOVATIONS FUND

NAME OF THE COMPANY : SEA6 ENERGY P. LTD.

Prashant Parameswaran

KOTTARAM AGRO FOODS P. LTD.

Founder & Managing Director

Prashant Parameswaran, Managing Director, Kottaram Agro Foods, has packaged the humble Ragi (Finger Millet) into tasty, delicious, healthy, breakfast options under the brand name SOULFULL. The company was formed in 2011.Post his Mechanical Engineering from PSG College of Technology, Prashant successfully setup business units from scratch in India in the field of distribution and retail under the Kottaram Group umbrella. He is armed with an MBA from Babson College and has experience with international firms like Limited brands and Information Resources Inc.. He was a Director supporting the Marketing Strategies team at Safeway Supermarkets at their California headquarters till 2009.

Kottaram is reintroducing indigenous grains and pulses by transforming them into a form amenable to the urban palate with its innovative, tasty and healthy product range.

Soulfull’s main ingredient is millet, which is a drought resistant grain. It can grow in arid areas which are unsuitable for rice and wheat, is resistant to pests and needs minimal fertilizers It is an ideal crop for marginal farmers, who do not have access to capital for inputs such as fertilizers, pesticides and are dependent on monsoonsThe company is reintroducing millets to modern India by transforming it into a form amenable to the urban palate, thereby increasing the demand for such grainsThe company’s agri-experts also provide guidance to farmers to help them cultivate a more suitable output.

BENEFITS

RAGI FLAKES & HEALTH DRINKNAME OF THE FUND : AAVISHKAAR BHARAT FUND

NAME OF THE COMPANY : KOTTARAM AGRO FOODS P. LTD.

Ramachandran Ramanathan

INTHREE ACCESS SERVICES PVT. LTD.

Founder & CEO

R. Ramanathan founded Inthree Access Services Pvt. Ltd. in 2013 and serves as its Chief Executive Officer. Ramanathan serves as a Director of Livelihood Services at v-shesh Access Services Private Limited. He has a career spanning 23 years. He has diverse experience in financial services right from merchant banking to urban microfinance and has led some pioneering projects in reaching out to and servicing non-urban markets. Ramanathan has a background in the marketing of Financial Services and has held senior management positions with RPG, ICICI, and TVS Groups. He is a Chartered Accountant.

It is an exclusive rural assisted Commerce platform created by Chennai based Inthree Access. Its primary business is to source and sell almost everything from Consumer Durables to FMCG to the rural customer. A unique feature of the mobile app is that it can work as well as process orders even in areas without Internet network but one has to be a Boonbox™ associate to place an order.

BENEFITS

RURAL E-COMMERCENAME OF THE FUND : ORIOS VENTURE PARTNERS

NAME OF THE COMPANY : INTHREE ACCESS SERVICES PVT. LTD.

The company operates an exclusive rural assisted e-commerce portal which uses advanced technologies to allow rural consumers to shop, backed by home delivery, credit facility, and high quality after sales service Indian towns and villages are home to a population of more than 750m people and are a large growing market. The rural customer is aspirational and increasingly seeking sophisticated products and services The company is operating in the rural market that hasn’t seen the presence of big funded players. The rural India market is highly underserved. Boonbox having the first mover advantage can take larger market share by building brand loyalty, providing great customer service and convenience and by also providing financing options to their customersBoonbox™ is an exclusive assisted commerce company and it does not cater to urban consumers and does not discount prices A unique feature of the mobile app is that it can work as well as process orders even in areas without internet network but one has to be a boonbox™ associate to place an order. The activities will provide boost to organic farming.

Devendra Gupta

ECOZEN SOLUTIONS P. LTD.

In 2009, three engineering students at IIT Kharagpur were fascinated with the opportunities in solar industry in India. The brain storming, discussions and learnings from college competitions, in which their ideas focused on the solar industry led the three young students to set up a startup based on solar energy.Devendra Gupta, Prateek Singhal and Vivek Pandey incorporated Ecozen Solutions in 2010 with the objective to provide energy access in an efficient manner to the masses.

Co-Founder & CEO

The company manufactures solar powered (portable) micro cold storage and controller for solar pump. Apart from running the solar pump, the controller enables illuminating rural house.

Ecozon developed a solar-powered, small-scale, micro-cold storage system that starts the Indian cold chain at the farm gate itself. This solution is needed across the developing world Eco-frost is a portable, solar powered cold room with storage capacity of 5 metric tons that does works with an efficient thermal energy storage to provide backup of over 30 hours. It is meant to be used for on-farm cooling and storage of produce right after harvest Ecotron analytics are powered through proprietary algorithms that track the performance of each system on ground. This is done by generating data minute by minute and logging it over our web servers via gprs;100% increase in price realization.

BENEFITS

MICRO COLD STORAGENAME OF THE FUND : ORIOS VENTURE PARTNERS

NAME OF THE COMPANY : ECOZEN SOLUTIONS P. LTD.

Sreeram Ravi

ERUVAKA TECHNOLOGIES PVT. LTD.

Founder & Managing Director

Sreeram Ravi is the Founder & Managing Director of Eruvaka Technologies. Sreeram founded Eruvaka Technologies after realising the severe problems faced by Aquaculture farmers. Prior to Eruvaka, he spent 6 years at Centillium Communications designing high performance semiconductor solutions for broadband access networks and helping customers deploy them. Sreeram believes that cost effective technology solutions can transform Indian Agriculture and make it sustainable and profitable.

The company manufactures devices for managing inland fish ponds. The ponds can be remotely monitored. Intelligent algorithms control the aerators automatically. This leads to a reduction in power bills for farmers, thereby increasing their profit margin.

FISH FARM MANAGEMENT

Eruvaka technologies develops connected devices and mobile-based decision tools for affordable monitoring and automation of aquaculture farms Aquaculture is one of the fastest growing segments of India's agricultural economy. Eruvaka was developing an integrated set of machines, sensors, and software to allow farmers to reduce cultivation risk, increase feed efficiency, and improve overall profitabilityConnected devices and mobile-based decision tools for affordable monitoring and automation of aquaculture farms.

BENEFITS

NAME OF THE FUND : ORIOS VENTURE PARTNERS

NAME OF THE COMPANY : ERUVAKA TECHNOLOGIES

Sathyan Gopalan

VORTEX ENGINEERING

CEO

Sathyan Gopalan is the Chief Executive Officer of Vortex Engineering. His current passion is “Company positioning & strategy related to market & product expansion & increasing overall company profitability”. A large part of Sathyan’s prior work experience of 25+ years has been in the banking industry and he has driven non-linear growth via launches of new products & penetrating new markets. These cover areas like core banking, risk & customer analytics, multi-channel solutions, enterprise management etc. in companies as diversified as Tata Unisys, Computer Associates, Oracle Financial Solutions, Wincor Nixdorf and now in Vortex Engineering.Sathyan started his working career at Pertech Computers Ltd. after graduating in engineering from UVCE Bangalore & doing 2 years of MBA-Finance from the Jamnalal Bajaj Institute, Mumbai.

The company manufactures ATM which can run at 70W and suitable for rural areas where there could be disruption in grid power.

The unique patented technology used in the ATMs has been developed to help banks reach out to the rural areas and ensure financial inclusion of the unbanked populationATMs do not require ac, can work for 4 hours on a single standard ups and 8 hours on solar energy using solar panelsATMs can dispense soiled (teller grade) notes which is not possible with conventional ATMsVortex worked on a state bank of India order for a deployment vortex engineering private limited of 545 ATMs across semi-urban and rural India.

RURAL ATMNAME OF THE FUND : TATA CAPITAL INNOVATIONS FUND

NAME OF THE COMPANY : VORTEX ENGINEERING P. LTD,

BENEFITS

Arindom Hazarika, Anabil Goswami, Ranapratap Brahma

Arohan Foods P. Ltd.

Co-founders

Arohan Foods has three co-founders. Anabil Goswami takes care of strategy and business development and has previously worked with Tata Chemicals. Ranapratap Brahma, the second co-founder, heads research and new products at the startup. He’s an alumnus of IIM, Indore and was earlier working with Bank of Baroda. The third co-founder is Arindom Hazarika, heads sales and marketing and has previously worked with Kotak Mahindra Bank.

BENEFITS

Around 10% of Indians eat pork but there was no strong pork brand in India. Northeast India is the largest pork producing region in India but there was no processing capacity. The company established processing facility and provide employment opportunities to locals, who rear piglets in their farms.

Arohan foods is India's largest pork processor, sourcing from smallholder pig farmers across northeast India and retailing premium pork products nationwideThe only Indian manufacturer to work closely and make products with national research centre on pig, icar and gadvasu, LudhianaThe package design, the product and the flavours are all designed to bring a small slice of the clean green northeast India to your home

PORK PICKLE AND SAUSAGESNAME OF THE FUND : OMNIVORE PARTNERS

NAME OF THE COMPANY : AROHAN FOODS P. LTD.

Dev Bajaj

M.I.T.R.A Agro Equipments Pvt. Ltd.

Founder

Dev Bajaj belived that technologically advanced agricultural implements have a life changing effect in the lives of farmers.In 2012, Dev Bajaj founded MITRA, one of India’s largest AgTech startups. MITRA build smart machines for horticulture farmers in India. He built and led a team of 150 people to sell 4 different patented technologies. In 2018, Mahindra & Mahindra, the largest tractor company in the world, entered into an agreement to acquire MITRA to grow M&M’s horticulture business. He stayed as CEO for a year to facilitate the transition before joining Kalaari. He is a former private equity executive and an INSEAD alumni

MITRA develops proprietary agricultural machines that automate labor-intensive functions in high value crops (orchards). The innovation in sprayer has helped farmers to save on capital cost of the machinery and operational cost thereon.

Mitra identified a massive opportunity to develop innovative farm machinery for smallholder horticulture farmers in IndiaLow cost sprayers help improve productivity and margin for horticultureMitra designs and manufactures world class "orchard and vineyard sprayers". These sprayers can be trailed or mounted on tractors thus being recognized as tractor trailed sprayers, tractor mounted sprayersAir blast technology is being used in these sprayers to provide sufficient air output for grape orchards/vineyards. Air blast sprayers produce mist of fine droplet sizes which are optimized for delivery of plant protection and plant enhancement chemicals Thus they are also recognized as mist blowers. Mitra uses axial fans specially suited for different sizes of canopy and air assisted sprayer technology works as atomizer and provided complete coverage

Pomemaster linear is an agricultural sprayer specially developed for "pomegranate plants and farms". It provides 100% coverage. It is very useful for dense pomegranates plantations.

SPRAYERS FOR ORCHARDS

BENEFITS

NAME OF THE FUND : OMNIVORE PARTNERS

NAME OF THE COMPANY : MITRA AGRO EQUIPMENTS P. LTD.

VKS farmsBharat Light

PoultryRenewable energy

Sresta

SEAF Agribusiness Fund

Tata Capital Innovations Fund

Ventureast Life Fund-III

Biotechnology Venture Fund

NAME OF FUND ACTIVITYNAME OF COMPANY

Omnivore Capital Trust

Vortex EngineeringWater HealthPluss PolymersSea6

CleantechDrinking waterAdvanced materialSeaweed cultivation

Tropolite FoodsAbhay CotexKhyati FoodsManisha Agri BiotechGuha Roya FppdB. P. FoodsM.B.PhosphateHimadri Foods

Diary ingredientsCattle feedAgricultureBiotechnologyPoultryWheat millingAgricultureSpices

Organic Food

Geo-Biotechnologies IndiaWestern India CashewVaishnodevi Food ProductsDSM Fresh Foods P Ltd.

Biotechno-logyCashewAgricultureAgribusi-ness

India Opportunities Fund

FrontalrainSkymetKhedut AgroBarrixMITRAY cookArohanStellappsEruvakaEcozen

Agribusi-nessWeather forecastingSeed DrillerPheromoneFarm SprayersRetort foodPork pickleDairy technologyAquacultureSolar pumps

List of agri-rural enterprises financed by NABARD supported Funds

TVS Shriram Growth Fund Prabhat Dairy Dairy

Ivycap Ventures - 1

Golden Gujarat Growth Fund

IndiaNivesh Growth and Special Situations Fund

Reuters Market Light Agriculture

Ratnakar Estate Developer P Ltd.D J Jasdan Wind Energy P Ltd.Ushdev Power Holdings P Ltd.

Sreesai Agrotech Innovations

EstateRenewable EnergyRenewable Energy

NAME OF FUND ACTIVITYNAME OF COMPANY

List of agri-rural enterprises financed by NABARD supported Funds

Orios Venture Partners Fusion Microfinance P. Ltd.Annapurna Finance P. Ltd.Arohan Financial Services P. Ltd.Pahal Financial Services P. Ltd.Satya Microcapital Ltd.Satin Creditcare Network Ltd.

MicrofinanceMicrofinanceMicrofinanceMicrofinanceMicrofinanceMicrofinance

IFMR Fimpact Long Cr.Fund Beejapuri DairyInThree Access Services P Ltd.

DairyAssisted commerce

Aavishkaar Bharat Fund Kottaram Agro FoodsNephra Waste ManagementUlink Agritech P. Ltd.

AgricultureWaste ManagementAgriculture

Agri Drones

India Advantage Fund Theobroma Agriculture

www.nabard.org

Taking Rural India >> Forward

Development Bank of the Nation for Fostering Rural Prosperity