Farmers Fresh Zone, an agri-tech start-up has raised ₹3.5 crore led by IAN Fund. With this round, Farmers Fresh Zone’s overall fund-raising has crossed ₹6.5 crore.
Pradeep PS, Founder and CEO of Farmers Fresh Zone, realised the need for a marketplace for farmers to sell their agriculture produce directly to the consumers. This prompted a software engineer to turn into an agri entrepreneur to establish Farmers Fresh Zone in 2015.
The Kochi-based agri-tech start-up aims at unlocking access to safe-to-eat, pesticide-free fruits and vegetables directly sourced from farmers. Through its Omni channel presence, the start-up has so far connected over 1500 farmers to urban consumers.
According to Pradeep, the Indian fruits and vegetable sector is valued at $100 billion, of which a staggering 96 per cent is fragmented and disorganised. Having received the funding from IAN, the company is looking to invest in expanding our brand to new markets including Bengaluru. “Our aim is to merge as the No: 1 player in the premium fruits and vegetable segment of South India”.
Padmaja Ruparel, Founding Partner, IAN Fund, said: “Kerala’s start-up ecosystem is truly thriving, thanks to the efforts of Kerala Start-up Mission in the State. Farmers FZ is an example of how India agriculture is innovating and enabling farmers to sell pesticide-free products to customers at a fair price.”
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