Agritech Startup Ergos Raises INR 38.5 Cr In Series A Funding From Chiratae Ventures Of the total capital, Chiratae Ventures led the round with INR 23.5 crore while Aavishkaar Capital invested an additional INR 15 crore
By Prabhjeet Bhatla •
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Agritech startup Ergos has raised INR 38.5 crore in Series A funding round from Chiratae Ventures and Aavishkaar Capital.
Of the total capital, Chiratae Ventures led the round with INR 23.5 crore while Aavishkaar Capital invested an additional INR 15 crore.
The equity round is expected to reach INR 80 crore with another institutional investor set to pump more capital in the startup, as per the company's official statement.
Ergos has been working on a unique farm-gate based technology driver Grainbank model for the small and marginal farmers in India. The start-up supports more than 20,000 farmers on its digital platform and has a physical footprint in more than 60 locations in Bihar.
"We are building the Ergos Grainbank to serve small and marginal farmers by leveraging technology and data science to disrupt the way farmers deal with their produce. We are extremely excited to have Chiratae on board and along with the continued support from Aavishkaar Capital, we intend to rapidly scale our geographic footprint and remain focussed to service farmers directly at farm-gate at over 2,000 Grainbank locations over the next few years," said Ergos founder and chief executive officer Kishor Jha.
The model provides farmers with doorstep access of end-to-end post-harvest supply chain solutions by leveraging a robust technology platform to ensure seamless service delivery. The tech platform functions like a bank and offers storage, digitisation, credit and liquidation facility to farmers through the single platform over the last five years.
"We are excited to partner with Ergos in its contribution to the Government's mission to help farmers double their income in a quantifiable way. Ergos is bridging the large gap between the selling price of produce and the realisation of farmers at the farm-gate by using technology to facilitate credit and market linkages to the grains stored with it," said Chiratae Ventures founder and managing director TCM Sundaram. "This opportunity is massive and Ergos is expected to capitalise on its early lead to become a market leader that creates sustainable development to the farmer's life."
"We are excited to welcome Chiratae as a co-investor in Ergos and join us in our journey of transforming the Indian farming landscape through Ergo's agri-technology platform We had seeded Ergos from a predecessor fund and are delighted with the company's progress and validation of our investment thesis. We believe the opportunity is very significant and the timing opportune to enable Ergos to rapidly scale the business and empower farmers," added Aavishkaar Capital partner Ajay Maniar.
Ergos has won the All India Start-up Award for their innovative model and excellence in supply chain by Indian Council of Food and Agriculture in 2018.
