Farming and Supply Chain Startup Absolute Foods eyes $90 million funding from Falcon Edge & Others
Absolute Foods is putting together a $75-90 million (Rs 558-670 crore) funding round led by global investors Falcon Edge and Tiger Global, valuing the five-year-old farming and supply chain startup at $250-300 million.
According to sources, the company is expected to raise a large portion of the money in the next few weeks, in what could be one of the largest Series A funding rounds in India's agritech space.
“Currently, due diligence is being carried out and the final binding offers will be submitted in a fortnight,” one of the people said. The company, the person said, began with raising a smaller round but expanded the size of the round given strong investor interest. “It wanted to raise a smaller $10-20 million round, but the investor interest has forced them to extend the round.
It could be $50 million now with the remainder coming in as an extended round.”
“The company is raising a larger funding round to fuel its technology growth and enter newer markets,” said a second person.
Absolute Foods, founded in 2016 by Khare, Prateek Rawat, and Samder Singh, manages the entire agri-food supply chain, from seed to harvest. Its digital platform is an AI-driven operating system that may be used to grow crops without the use of synthetic enzymes or genetically modified organisms in vertical farms, greenhouses, and open farms. Absolute Foods' platform, which works with over 8,000 farmers across 25,000 acres, can identify 63 crop variants and their ideal harvesting environments, according to its website.
The firm has operations in India, the Middle East, and North Africa. The startup received $2 million in March from Sequoia Capital's Surge incubation programme and two angel investors, Nadir Godrej and Sanjiv Rangrass.
Agritech businesses are gradually finding popularity among risk investors, with many entrepreneurs raising funds in the previous several months. DeHaat, Gramophone, Bijak, Onato, Agrostar, Reshamandi, BharatAgri, and TartanSense were among them.
According to sources, the company is expected to raise a large portion of the money in the next few weeks, in what could be one of the largest Series A funding rounds in India's agritech space.
“Currently, due diligence is being carried out and the final binding offers will be submitted in a fortnight,” one of the people said. The company, the person said, began with raising a smaller round but expanded the size of the round given strong investor interest. “It wanted to raise a smaller $10-20 million round, but the investor interest has forced them to extend the round.
It could be $50 million now with the remainder coming in as an extended round.”
“The company is raising a larger funding round to fuel its technology growth and enter newer markets,” said a second person.
Absolute Foods, founded in 2016 by Khare, Prateek Rawat, and Samder Singh, manages the entire agri-food supply chain, from seed to harvest. Its digital platform is an AI-driven operating system that may be used to grow crops without the use of synthetic enzymes or genetically modified organisms in vertical farms, greenhouses, and open farms. Absolute Foods' platform, which works with over 8,000 farmers across 25,000 acres, can identify 63 crop variants and their ideal harvesting environments, according to its website.
The firm has operations in India, the Middle East, and North Africa. The startup received $2 million in March from Sequoia Capital's Surge incubation programme and two angel investors, Nadir Godrej and Sanjiv Rangrass.
Agritech businesses are gradually finding popularity among risk investors, with many entrepreneurs raising funds in the previous several months. DeHaat, Gramophone, Bijak, Onato, Agrostar, Reshamandi, BharatAgri, and TartanSense were among them.
