During the last financial year, investments in agri and food tech start-ups rose 97 per cent to USD 2.1 billion, mainly driven by funding in restaurants marketplaces, according to a report.

Venture capital firms AgFunder and Omnivore released ‘India AgriFood Startup-Investment Report’. “Total investments in agrifood tech start-ups for FY21 stood at USD 2.1 billion, up 97 per cent from FY20. Deal volume also saw significant growth, with 189 deals in FY21 versus 136 deals in FY20,” the report said.

Raising USD 1.33 billion, restaurant marketplaces remained the dominant investment category. Up 140 per cent from 2019-20, downstream start-ups raised USD 1.77 billion in 2020-21.

Zomato which raised $ 1.2 billion in the lead up to its heavily subscribed public offer in early 2021-22 was the primary reason for the significant growth in downstream investments.

The report said that “upstream, which includes start-ups developing technologies for farmers and agricultural value chains, continued to garner investor interest with a slight increase in the total year-on-year funding.

“But, because of the downstream sector’s explosive growth, the share of upstream investments fell significantly to 15 per cent of total FY21 investments, down from 42 per cent in FY20,” it added.