#Asia Indian agritech startup AgroStar raises US$10M led by Accel Partners

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Farmers can use the AgroStar to procure agri inputs needed for their farms by giving a missed call on its platform or via its mobile app

The AgroStar Co-founders Sitanshu Sheth and Shardul Sheth

AgroStar, an m-commerce platform for farmers in India, has raised US$10 million in Series B round of funding led by Accel Partners India.

Existing investors IDG Ventures and Aavishkaar have also participated in this round.

With this funding, Pune-based AgroStar intends to have a pan-India presence in the next two years. It also plans to build its leadership team and strengthen its technology and data analytics platform.

India has over 100 million farmers who face challenges ranging from duplication of agri inputs, substandard products and the lack of technical know-how to grow their crop. These problems have led to very low farm productivity, resulting in Indian yields being lower than the world average for most of the crops.

The AgroStar team

The AgroStar team

AgroStar is solving these challenges by providing real-time solutions to farmers through its technology platform accessible to the farmer by a simple “missed call” and its Android app. Farmers can procure a range of good quality and branded agri-inputs like seeds, crop nutrition, crop protection and agri-hardware products through the mobile platform. AgroStar has partnered with leading national and multinational brands whose agri input products are available on the AgroStar platform.

It also provides assurance of expert agronomy advice and convenient delivery at the farmer’s doorsteps.

AgroStar claims it has over one million farmers connected on its platform and is currently operational in Gujarat, Maharashtra and Rajasthan.

Commenting on the investment, Prashanth Prakash, Partner, Accel India, said, “There is a huge scope to implement technology to solve the inherent problems faced by farmers in India. In a mobile-first country like India, AgroStar has clearly demonstrated that farmers in India are ready to adapt the latest in technology that can make their lives simpler and improve their productivity. We are happy to be partnering with AgroStar in their journey to build a successful agri-tech company.”

Shardul Sheth, CEO, Founder, AgroStar said, “Farmers in India face significant challenges at every point from buying agri inputs to improving their yields and finally getting a good price for their produce. We are working hard on solving some of these challenges through technology to make farming more sustainable and profitable for farmers.”

The post Indian agritech startup AgroStar raises US$10M led by Accel Partners appeared first on e27.

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