Agritech firm DeHaat has raised $30 million in a funding round led by Dutch e-commerce group Prosus NV. Existing investors Sequoia Capital India, FMO, Omnivore, and AgFunder also participated in the round. Dexter Capital acted as the exclusive advisor of this funding round. The fresh infusion of capital will be utilized to hire more staff, develop new technology and improve its supply chain, said the company.

Founded in 2012, DeHaat is building AI-enabled technologies to revolutionize supply chain and production efficiency in the farm sector. The Patna and Gurugram based company currently operates in Bihar, UP, Odisha, and WB. With over 350,000 farmers in DeHaat’s service network, the firm intends to extend its services to five million farmers by 2024.

In a statement, the company said that it has experienced 3.5x annual growth over the past two years and has created a rural retail network of more than 1300 DeHaat micro entrepreneurs for last-mile delivery.

Ashutosh Sharma, Head of India Investments, Prosus Ventures, said, “Prosus Ventures invests in industries around the world where innovation can significantly address big societal needs. DeHaat is catering to a massive market in India with the agriculture sector worth more than $350 billion to the country’s economy and consisting of an estimated 140 million+ farmers. Through its end-to-end agricultural services offerings, DeHaat will have a major societal impact in India, improving the earning potential for Indian farmers and overall yield for the sector while also enabling micro entrepreneurs all over the country, including in rural areas where there is often less income opportunity."

Prosus may look to market crop-protection service Aerobotics - in which its own parent company Naspers Ltd. is an investor - to DeHaat’s farmers, Sharma said. Prosus will also explore ways to connect DeHaat with some of its other large ventures.