Ergos, an agritech start-up, has received fresh investment of ₹22.5 crore ($3 million) from CDC of U.K. to close an ₹81 crore ($11 million) fund raise with participation from two other investors Aavishkaar Capital and Chiratae Ventures.
Ergos is building a GrainBank model which has been piloted in Bihar, it said.
This model enables farmers to digitise their food grain and also provides them doorstep access to end-to-end postharvest supply chain solutions by leveraging its technology platform, it added.
The platform operates like a bank and offers storage, digitisation, credit and liquidate facility to farmers and has been helping them achieve higher incomes for their produce, the firm said.
Kishor Jha, founder & CEO, Ergos said “We are building Ergos primarily to extend post-harvest support to small and marginal farmers on storage, credit and market linkages at farm-gate. We are leveraging technology to empower farmers and enable them to be key decision takers with respect to their crop produce.”
“We intend to rapidly scale our geographic footprint and remain steadfast in our desire to cater to millions of farmers directly at farm-gate over the next few years,” he said.
Craig Gifford, head of South Asia Private Equity Funds, CDC Group said, “Investing to support small holder farmers and improve their livelihoods is a strong demonstration of how we use our capital at CDC.”
“Leveraging cutting edge technology is key to addressing some of the challenges farmers face in India. Ergos is extremely well placed to make a meaningful difference to their lives, and we are delighted to co-invest alongside Aavishkaar Capital, a longstanding partner of CDC, to support an ambitious management in building their business,” he said.
