The infusion into Vegrow is GIC’s first agritech and B2B investment in India.
The latest funding round in the 2020-founded startup, which had raised $40.5 million in the past, was at a valuation of about $290 million, cofounder Shobhit Jain told ET in an interaction.
In July 2022, when the company last raised funding, it was valued at $170 million.
Other investors in the funding round were Prosus Ventures, Matrix Partners India, Elevation Capital and Lightspeed, all of which had previously deployed funding in Vegrow.
About $6 million in the latest round was carved out as a secondary share sale, with Ankur Capital, Titan Capital and Better Capital scoring partial exits, and multiple angel investors getting full exits, Jain told ET.
Discover the stories of your interest
The funds, Jain said, would be used to scale up Vegrow’s business in India as well as its global network. Vegrow was founded by IIT alumni Jain, Praneeth Kumar, Mrudhukar Batchu and Kiran Naik. The cofounders, beyond their agricultural expertise, have also gained marketplaces experience from their past roles at ITC, Urban Company and Chronus.
The startup’s platform acts as a matchmaker for farmers growing different grades of fruits and customers with specific preferences.
The demand-supply matchmaking, Vegrow said, also helps it maximise farmers’ income, by accurately grading produce and efficiently matching it with the most suitable demand channel.
In its international business, Vegrow has networks in the middle-east, South Africa and Turkey.
“Vegrow is the fastest agri-tech company to build a national presence, having done this within three years of its inception. Typically, it takes double the time to achieve this scale of operations,” said Vegrow cofounder Kumar. The company claims to be among India’s largest exporters of bananas.
Over the past year, Vegrow has reported a fivefold increase in revenue and achieved operational profitability, a statement from the company said.
“Through the extensive utilisation of data and technology, we provide valuable insights and optimise (for) supply chain challenges, such as reducing perishable inventory wastage to only one-fourth of the industry average, and consistently achieving industry-leading profit margins,” cofounder Batchu, added.
“The founders’ extensive experience in the sector and demonstrated execution differentiates them, and GIC is looking forward to partnering with Vegrow in their next phase of growth,” the sovereign investor said in a statement from the company.
