Pune-based Agritech startup Shivrai Technologies Pvt Ltd, which runs and owns enterprise resource planning (ERP) platform FarmERP, has raised Series A funding of an undisclosed amount from Singapore-based strategic investor Technogen.

Media reports say that FarmERP will use the funds to build artificial intelligence (AI)-based climate resilience intelligence to help customers to mitigate climate risks in agriculture and achieve sustainability.

The startup aims to help refine farming and agricultural operations through its expertise in AI, machine learning, computer vision, and blockchain technologies.

Founded in 2006 by Sanjay Borkar and Santosh Shinde, FarmERP is an ERP platform that provides information technology (IT) solutions to agriculture companies and startups, governments, crop insurance companies, non-governmental organisations, and farmer-producer companies and research and design (R&D) institutions. The platform has been deployed in over 25 countries.

Stage set for agritech unicorn?

In a recent report titled Agritech in India – Emerging Trends in 2019, industry body NASSCOM estimated there were over 450 agritech startups in India today. In 2019 alone, the sector received close to $250 million in funding, a whopping increase of 300 percent over last year. 

NASSCOM also expects India to have its first agritech unicorn in two to three years.

Other than FarmERP, a couple of other agritech startups have raised funding this year. In September, Gurugram-based Smart farms Agritech Pvt. Ltd raised an undisclosed amount as a part of its angel round from a clutch of angel investors, led by angel investor Sunkara Subba Rao. 

In August, Indore-based agritech startup Gramophone announced that it had raised Rs 24 crore ($3.5 million) in Series A funding from Info Edge, Raveen Sastry (Co-founder of Myntra.com), Asha Impact, and Better Capital. 

Pune-based agritech startup AgroStar raised $27 million in a Series C funding round in March, led by Bertelsmann India. The funding round also saw the participation of existing investors Accel, Chirate Ventures and Aavishkar Bharat Fund.

(Edited by Teja Lele Desai)