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6 Agri-Fintech Startups in Asia to Follow in 2020

Agritech, which refers to the use of technology and technological innovation to improve the efficiency and output of agriculture, is poised to have a major impact across the world, and most particularly emerging markets.

Agritech covers a wide and varied range of companies that offer everything from precision agriculture solutions and farm management software, to Internet-based distribution channels, robotics and drones, leveraging technology such as sensors, the Internet-of-Things (IoT), big data, and artificial intelligence (AI).

Today, we look at six agri-fintech startups from Asia serving the farming community to follow closely in 2020.

FarMart (India)

FarMart started out as a platform connecting farmers that needed agri-machineries to other farmers who could provide it on rent, before expanding its offering to loans.

The platform now helps smallholder farmers get access to low cost digital credit by providing them a virtual credit card through which they can purchase farm inputs at its offline retail channels.

FarMart has its own proprietary credit underwriting model which analyzes over 50 data points that cover four categories: personal information, supplementary income of the family, details of their agricultural profile such as land size and types of crops they own and household assets such as tractors, cars, and the TV they own.

FarMart has the ambition to become the first agri-focused digital bank of India.

Jai Kisan (India)

Jai Kisan, from India, aims to empower the rural community, especially farmers. The company provides low cost and timely financing for agricultural equipment, dairy equipment and other rural yield generational assets that is more flexible and transparent than other credit options available in India.

The platform utilizes a comprehensive credit score that assesses a farmer’s financial, market, agronomic and environmental, psychometric, individual, social, and satellite data.

In March 2019, Jai Kisan raised US$1.5 million in a seed funding round led by Blume Ventures, Prophetic Ventures, Better Capital, Astarc Ventures, Harshbeena Zaveri, managing director of NRB Bearings, and Sanjaya Mariwala from OmniActive.

Crowde (Indonesia)

Crowde is an Indonesian agriculture-focused fintech startup that empowers farmers with technology and capital through a farmer-friendly financing ecosystem.

The company provides a financing platform that put in touch investors seeking attractive returns with farmers that are looking for capital to grow, create employment and support local communities.

Beyond connecting investors and farmers, Crowde also integrates the entire agriculture ecosystem from suppliers to customers through technology.

TaniGroup (Indonesia)

TaniGroup is an Indonesian agritech startup that operates TaniHub, an agriculture products e-commerce platform, and TaniFund, a peer-to-peer (P2P) lending platform.

TaniHub’s mission is to empower local farmers by providing them with access to markets, allowing them to make their products available directly to wider markets serving both individuals as well as micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs).

Meanwhile, TaniFund aims to providing financing opportunities to unbankable smallholders farmers in Indonesia. It’s a crowdfunding platform that connects farmers with alternative financing from the broader public. Individuals and/or entities can choose to invest their fund into a cultivation project of their preference.

Cropital (Philippines)

Cropital is a Filipino social enterprise that supports and empowers local farmers by providing them access to affordable credit.

Through an online crowdfunding platform, Cropital raises funds from the public and then lends the capital to individual farmers at a much lower cost.

In addition to financing, Cropital also supports farmers by connecting them to suppliers and buyers, crop insurance providers, and agricultural training resources through its network of on-the-ground Community Managers.

Cropital a globally recognized organization whose development has been supported by institutions in the US, Netherlands, Malaysia and the Philippines. As of October, the company had helped 700 farmers and activated 3,000 investor accounts.

Impact Terra (Myanmar)

Impact Terra, from Myanmar, provides its services through the Golden Paddy Platform, which consists of a mobile application, web application and a Facebook page.

Golden Paddy helps farmers to improve their crop productivity by sharing agricultural knowledge and real-time, customized recommendations and alerts. The platform also helps them expand markets connections and facilitates access to improved (formal) financing opportunities.

The startup raised US$3 million in funding in 2018 and plans to expand to Thailand, Vietnam, and other Southeast Asian countries.