Comments
Bengaluru, Jan 17
Fullstack agritech platform DeHaat has acquired a regional agri-input market place Helicrofter for an undisclosed sum. The latest acquisition would help DeHaat expand its footprint in Maharashtra, the company said in a statement.
Founded in 2020 by Siddhartha Choudhary, Helicrofter has over 2,000 agri-input retailers and 30 sellers across Maharashtra and had clocked an annual revenue of Rs 50 crore.
“At DeHaat, we have built a crop and service agnostic, farmer-first model. We have been consistent with 35-40 per cent growth in our network, on a month-on-month basis, and this acquisition will cement our footprint in Maharashtra and thereby, the Western region, which forms a major agri-cluster. Over the years, DeHaat’s micro-entrepreneur network has grown to 4,000 in the Eastern and Central parts of India. With the addition of Helicrofter’s network, we will now add a range of prospective micro-entrepreneurs from Western India to this list,” said Amrendra Singh, Co-founder, DeHaat in a statement.
DeHaat serves over 7 lakh farmers in North India, helping them access over 3,200 agricultural inputs, combined with AI-based customised crop advisory on pest & disease management, delivered via mobile app and call centres.
DeHaat, which operates in Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand, West Bengal, Odisha, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan, also aggregates over 30 crops from farmers on their network and directly supplies it to over 600 commodity bulk buyers, including retail chains, e-commerce players, FMCG giants, and SME food processors.
"We, at Helicrofter, are delighted to be joining hands with DeHaat. This union will undoubtedly help us add more value to farmers and other stakeholders by strengthening our offerings, and accessing a variety and quality of services, as well as network access, that DeHaat possesses," said Siddhartha Choudhary, founder Helicrofter.
The company, which raised $115 million in October 2021 from investors led by Sofina and Lightrock, also acquired another startup FarmGuide, which helped it integrate satellite-based crop advisory solutions to farmers. DeHaat is backed by investors such as Prosus Ventures, Sequoia Capital India, RTP Global, FMO and Omnivore.
Comments
COMMENT NOW
Comments
Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.
We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of TheHindu Businessline and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.